Sweden

“We need to think in a new way. If we are really to fight crime. Then we must go after the leaders and their money. Behind all the shootings and the use of explosives are people who are earning big money,” said Social Democratic party leader and former prime minister Magdalena Andersson. Photo: Michal Cizek/archive/Ritzau Scanpix
In Sweden, the Social Democrats want to intensify the fight against organised crime with new mafia legislation, which is to be a Swedish variant of U.S. legislation in this area from the 1970s. At the same time, Italian laws against the mafia must be looked at. “We need to think innovatively. If we are really to fight crime. Then we must go after the leaders and their money. Behind all the shootings and the use of explosives are people who are earning big money,” said Social Democratic party leader and former prime minister Magdalena Andersson. The Social Democrats refer specifically to American mafia legislation, which is known by its acronym RICO.
    “It is offensive legislation against criminals,” Andersson says of the laws in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, which was developed in the 1970s in the fight against mafia leaders, even those who had not committed criminal acts themselves or given concrete orders. “You focus on patterns and behaviours in networks or associations. This means that you can bring charges against people who have committed other crimes for the network,” says one of the Social Democrats’ legal policy spokesmen, Ardalan Shekarabi. “It has been used successfully in the United States,” he points out. /ritzau/TT/