"Twenty teams dominate the Corsican criminal landscape," and their activities fall under "mafia-style control." As French authorities and Corsican civil society have gradually come to acknowledge the island is indeed home to a mafia, intelligence sources have painted a detailed portrait of its shadowy players, Le Monde has learned in consulting a new report of SIRASCO, the branch of the French judicial police charged with gathering intelligence on organized crime.

According to the document, the criminal teams are not on the fringes of the island's community. "Most of them have infiltrated every political, social and economic sector of the island and seek to dominate the legal activities they deem most profitable," SIRASCO reports, citing interests in construction, restaurants, hotels, maritime transport and real estate. The power balance between these groups is fragile and could be disrupted at any moment by open, violent conflict.

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