The countdown has started. Piazza Duomo sparkles. The end of the year is approaching, along with an atrocious pre-Christmas dilemma: will the Maranza launch an assault on Milan this time too? Last year they climbed onto the statue of Vittorio Emanuele II shouting “Allahu Akbar”, throwing less than auspicious insults at the natives, such as “fucking police” and “fuck Italy”. Others went wild in the streets of the centre, harassing groups of girls. The upheavals of the last few weeks do not bode well. Fierce youth gangs, overflowing with wild children of first and second generation immigrants, now dominate.
The white flag flies over Madunina. Actually red. And with a green five-pointed star. Like the one in Morocco that was blown up last New Year’s Eve. Bold and violent caricatures have taken over the city. From the banlieue of Corvetto, the forgotten outskirts of the tricolor Gotham City, to the sequins of Gae Aulenti, symbol of the Milanese Renaissance. Muggings and robberies, drug dealing and terror, knives and guns. And now the triacetate army moves to conquer Italy. Don Alì, self-proclaimed “the king of the maranza”, even wanted to gather his acolytes to invade the South, guilty of speaking badly of the lords, those transplanted to the north. Thus, the Turin tiktoker announced battle. «Other than Totò Riina», he wrote with poorly concealed pride. A month ago he was arrested for the attack on a primary school teacher, who was attacked in front of his daughter.
Don Alì’s hegemonic project will have to be postponed. But the colonization of the North, meanwhile, already seems well underway. Not just metropolises, such as Turin and Milan. Foreign gangs, also full of minors, have invaded the Lombardy-Venetian province. Until reaching the capital, where the Colosseum gang rages. They’re everywhere now. Lega has proposed a bill to change immigration rules. The secretary, Matteo Salvini, also announces anti-maranza rules: that is, “the expansion of the cases in which revocation is foreseen and the restriction on reunification”. But the ribald subculture is also evoked by the much more conciliatory Antonio Tajani. To those who mock the hypothesis of easy citizenship for young people, the leader of Forza Italia replies: “Do you prefer the Maranza or those who go to school for ten years and become Italian?”. They are so domineering that they gave rise to Ryanair’s latest advertising campaign: “We reserve the right not to serve anyone wearing drag suits.”
The detail needs to be enriched. Clothing, for this platoon of debauched people, is everything. So iconic that it is even copied by young and peaceful compatriots. In addition to the triacetate sports suit with side bands, they wear flashy sneakers like the Nike TN, shiny sleeveless down jackets with visible branding, the standard brown Gucci hat, a pouch rigorously over the shoulder, chains clearly visible. An iconic outfit that makes them recognizable everywhere. Because being like them has become pop. For this reason, together with the designer clothes, their criminal exploits are flaunted on social media. Instagrammable delinquency.
Metropolitan exploits also inspire provincial gangs. Brianza is surrounded. Starting from Monza, where the train station has become a no-man’s land. Or rather: Maranza. A month ago there was a major check: half had previous cases. But even the elegant historic center is unlivable. The central Via Bergamo has transformed into the street of bad nightlife. Gang fights are common. This summer Albanians and North Africans clashed in the streets. Kicks, punches and bottles flew. People had to take refuge in the bar, while the managers lowered the shutters. From Carnate, however, the Maranza convoy sets off towards Monza: joints smoked in the carriages and bathrooms devastated. The exasperated mayor, Rosella Maggiolini, asked for a permanent army garrison in the station square. In Cesano Maderno, which is a few kilometers from the Brianza capital, the parish priest was forced to close the oratory to avoid the raids of the local gang: thefts, threats and drug dealing. And in the other Lombardy provinces, from Brescia to Bergamo, the situation is certainly not more reassuring. In Ghedi, in Bassa, some young people were attacked by a gang of peers armed with katanas and guns. Twice, in a few days.
Veneto also risks capitulating. The prefect of Treviso, Angelo Sidoti, has put the “maranza emergency” at the top of the city’s urgencies, given the constant brawls over the weekend. To say the last thing: a small group of boys were beaten to death. The celebration of the gesture on Instagram made it possible to identify the criminals.
In the Padua area, the mayor of Cittadella, Luca Pierobon, has asked the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, for help: for months, he reports, “there has been a worrying increase in bullying and threats”, which go as far as extorting high school students. And in Legnago, in the Veronese area, they entered the Cathedral on their bicycles to pick fights and swear during mass.
There is no respite even in summer. When the heat hits, the maranzas move to the Romagna Riviera. During the day, the pack attacks the most popular beaches: sunbeds destroyed, umbrellas uprooted, bottles scattered. At night, he engages in his usual exploits: memorable brawls and drug dealing.
Their criminal existence is also enriched by their assiduous presence at anti-government and Pro Pal demonstrations. In Milan, during a march through Gaza in September, they took part in the assault on the central station: clashes with the police, charging officers, throwing stones. And they also managed to animate the CGIL protests, uniting with the violent and antagonistic left during the general strike in October. According to the investigators, it was anarchists and social centers who enlisted them. Not just in Milan or Turin. But even in the most placid Forlì, as informed by the Councilor for Security, Luca Bartolini. Moreover, last April the CGIL took to the streets to protest against the anti-maranza patrols in the Lombardy capital, also criticized by the mayor, Giuseppe Sala.
The official data supports this. According to the Interior Ministry, over 287 thousand foreigners were reported or arrested in 2024. Over a third of the total, despite being nine percent of the population. But their incidence rises to around sixty percent, in the case of thefts and robberies.
The province in which foreigners commit crimes the most is Prato. Florence follows. Third place, however, for the inevitable Milan: almost 64 percent of crimes are not committed by Italians. In the latest safety ranking of Il Sole 24 Ore, the Lombard metropolis occupies the penultimate position. Sala assures us that this is a “misleading narrative”. But the Milanese prefect, Bruno Megale, explains that this year the majority of the 830 people arrested for thefts or robberies were foreigners. Twenty percent, he adds, are not even eighteen years old. In fact, the vast majority of inmates at Beccaria, the Milanese juvenile prison, come from other countries, almost always Islamic: in 2024 they were almost eighty percent. A number so high that it convinced the Interior Ministry to authorize the entry of an imam into the penitentiary, to work alongside the chaplain. The chosen one is Abdullah Tchina, religious leader of the Sesto San Giovanni community. In short, he will be the one to try to re-educate the most incorrigible.
An unlikely undertaking. From Corso Como to Quarto Oggiaro, the city is under siege. They beat up tourists for a necklace. They attack students with machetes. They kick the policemen. Always ready to post on social media, mimicking their undisputed idols: controversial rappers, such as the award-winning couple Simba La Rue and Baby Gang. The first, born Mohamed Lamine Saida, was recently arrested in Spain for a large number of sentences: from the shooting in a club in Milan to armed robbery. Last September, however, they took Baby Gang, born Zaccaria Mouhib. A month later he ended up under house arrest, with an electronic bracelet. Now he is a guest of a therapeutic community, to begin a “detoxification” journey. He sings: «I only have a mentality. Either I shoot him or he shoots me. I live only on illegality. I learn, he learns.” In a video clip, he proudly shows off the Kalashnikov. The detested Caramba have just discovered that it was lent to them by a gang of Macedonian arms dealers.
Simba and Baby Gang, what bad guys. After having knocked down two Senegalese men, they posed satisfied next to the victims. Already anticipating the moment when they would send the photo to the girls. They are the two idols. The unrivaled pride of triacetate scoundrels.
