By their nature, crooks are always dishonest and manipulation is the skill they mostly excel in. The business of crime is a dirty business of lies, deceit, conspiracy, secrecy, violence, abuse, and ultimately murder. When the police are crooks they are being twice as deceitful as conventional crooks: they are engaged in the world of crime and at the same time, usurping and abusing their important role in society to do the opposite of what they are supposed to do. So, it is logical to say, that a highly skilled crook, is also highly skilled in manipulation to the extent of being capable of installing themselves in a position of official power.
A crafty criminal can run a successful corner drug business. A sophisticated one can become a magistrate to cut deals with the country’s top money launderers. Another type of white-collar criminal is the politician. There are even those who become criminals over time with the opportunities that come their way and this is the story of many corrupt cops. A policeman is rarely ever a criminal when he is a recruit, but can become one once he begins to engage in criminal activity with the criminal contacts they collect on their job.
Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa comes from a humble background and was a promising young recruit with the Police, so much so that Police Commissioner John Rizzo loved him to the extent of thinking of him as a son. Rizzo, with the authority of a paternal figure to the Corps, genuinely cared for his chosen ones, and Gafas was one of those whom Rizzo believed in. Then came “L-Aqwa ?mien” and Angelo Gafa was bestowed with new opportunities. However, Gafa’s opportunities came with many conditions and by then Rizzo was already removed from the system. The Police had become a tool of the Office of the Prime Minister under the direct control of the Prime Minister. Gafa watched his superior, Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar cover up for his political masters until he was forced to resign.
Like Robert Abela, when Gafa was appointed Police Commissioner, he rained down words of hope, reform, and revolution on the press. He met with activists at his office and promised them he would take action against corruption. Things only got worse since then, but not only. Angelo Gafa, today, makes no effort to pretend he is fighting organised crime or corruption. Like Robert Abela, he has become comfortable and accustomed to a state that allows, abets, and supports corruption and organised crime, and he has accepted this situation so much that he has become dependent on it.
Angelo Gafa and his wife, Sylvana Gafa, have to fork out at least ย3000 every month for the next twenty years to pay off a ย612,000 loan they took from Bank of Valletta to purchase a villa. This was quite a risky loan for the bank to make because Angelo Gafa doesn’t have a tenure of twenty years. He has a tenure of three years, and he needs his contract renewed to keep making regular payments unless he has a substantial amount of savings – his history of property ownership shows that most probably, he has very little in savings. Angelo Gafa can get into some financial trouble if he spends some months without earning an equivalent of his current ย3900 a month income, not to mention the carry for his very large property, the family, and other expenses.
What makes Angelo Gafa and the bankers at Bank of Valletta so confident that he will keep making his payments on a very long-term basis is the fact that Robert Abela will always guarantee a good job for him and this guarantee, comes of course, with many conditions, such for example, not to arrest Joseph Muscat unless really forced to by an Inquiring Magistrate. Angelo Gafa is not a businessman nor a multi-talented versatile individual who can easily find sources of income if he ends his tenure as Police Commissioner. He’s also the same police officer who exculpated Pilatus Bank officials, so he would not be a very trustworthy candidate for international institutions such as Europol unless recommended directly by the government. Angelo Gafa has a relatively huge debt liability that he has to cover – a lingering risk in his thoughts that he lives with every single day of his life – a tension that screeches to the brain and yells “payment due”. If Angelo Gafa wants to keep his villa, he has to play it cool – he needs to cover up for organised crime and make his political masters happy.
Ask yourself. How can it be that after more than four years that Malta went through its biggest political crisis in 2019, that organised crime still rules the nation and the state? How is it that organised criminals still rule the streets? How is it that cocaine dealers can supply lethal doses of drugs to top criminal prosecutors who end up dead? How is it that despite the overwhelming evidence of corruption by politicians there is still total impunity? How is it that no politician has yet been jailed?
When trying to solve or answer difficult problems, one always needs to take the simplest route and the simplest answer is always the best answer,
He’s a fucking criminal.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
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