Wind farms are big business in Italy, and the sun-soaked and wind-swept island of Sicily is no exception. Hardly surprising then, that the Sicilian mafia has cottoned on to the idea of harnessing wind, and is cashing in on the green movement too.

As a departure from their typical drug-trafficking, arms-dealing, money-laundering type activities, criminal wind farming requires a very specific skill set and technical expertise. So Sicily’s mafia, the Cosa Nostra, is reportedly acting as a middle-man, making sure that no renewable energy can be created without them having some hand in it – either through owning the land where wind farms are to be built, “arranging” the various government permissions required by applicants, or winning the lucrative construction contracts.

Genius, really.

The so-called “Lord of the Wind” in Sicily, named for his success in the wind farming industry, is a businessman called Vito Nicastri, whose strong ties to the mafia have been exposed. Vito had nearly $2 billion worth of assets seized last year, including 43 wind and solar companies and around 100 properties. Authorities have named this the largest ever collection of mafia assets. And it seems they were all gathered through wind farming.

Green can be dirty too.

[Source: Time]