ROME, Italy \u2014 If the 1970s mob classic \u201cThe Godfather\u201d had been filmed today, you\u2019d see giant wind turbines in the backdrop of scenes around Vito Corleone\u2019s hometown. They\u2019ve sprouted by the dozen in western Sicily, part of a green-power boom fueled by government subsidies.<\/p>\n
They wouldn\u2019t be out of place. Police have long suspected that much of the money has gone toward lining the pockets of figures such as Matteo Messina Denaro, the head of Cosa Nostra himself and Italy\u2019s most-wanted man.<\/p>\n
Just how much money became clear last week with the seizure of almost $2 billion in assets from a wind-power magnate believed to be Denaro\u2019s frontman.<\/p>\n
A plumber and electrician, Vito Nicastri amassed one of the largest wind and solar-power empires in Italy, earning him the nickname \u201clord of the wind.\u201d It included 46 companies, dozens of bank accounts, villas, apartments, yachts and fast cars \u2014 the largest group of assets ever confiscated in Italy and an alarming indicator of the extent of the Mafia\u2019s stake in clean energy.<\/p>\n
One of the country\u2019s most promising sectors, the renewables industry has surged even as the rest of the economy ground to a halt. Developers built more wind and solar plants in 2012 than in any previous year and added 5,000 jobs to a country wracked with unemployment.<\/p>\n
The boom is almost entirely due to what were, at their peak, the most generous renewable incentives in the world, says Andrea Gilardoni, an economist at Milan\u2019s Bocconi University.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were so high that all kinds of people have become involved,\u201d he said. \u201cEven cats and dogs can make money in this kind of climate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government has doled out more than $75 billion to companies that produce wind and solar energy over the past six years, doubling and sometimes even tripling their revenues.<\/p>\n
The bonanza prompted a gold rush for scores of energy companies that flocked to the country\u2019s south, one of the sunniest and windiest places in Europe \u2014 only to collide with Italian bureaucracy. Anyone hoping to build a wind or solar plant was met with reams and reams of red tape.<\/p>\n
In one case, International Power required more than six years to get a medium-sized wind farm approved. The company, now owned by French GDF Suez, had to deal with more than 50 various agencies and departments, any one of which could have delayed the process further.<\/p>\n
Many firms turned to middlemen calling themselves \u201cfacilitators.\u201d<\/p>\n