Extortion

ESTORSIONE (EXTORTION). - In modern criminal law, this is the term given to the crime committed by anyone who, by means of violence or threats, compelling someone to do or omit something, procures for themselves or others an unjust profit to the detriment of another.

It is distinguished from robbery (rapina), in which violence or threats are used as a means to take another person's property by removing it from the person holding it; that is, in robbery it is the culprit who takes the property, whereas in extortion, when there is a transfer of the property from the victim to the culprit, it is the victim who hands it over to the culprit (at least this is the most widely accepted distinguishing criterion). It is distinguished from fraud (truffa), because in fraud the means consists, instead of violence or threats, in inducing error (even if such induction aims to generate in the victim the fear of an imaginary danger). On the other hand, a subspecies of extortion is blackmail (ricatto), which occurs when someone kidnaps a person for the purpose of obtaining, for themselves or others, an unjust profit as the price of liberation.

In current Italian law, extortion is punished with imprisonment from three to ten years and with a fine from 40,000 to 160,000 lire; the penalty is increased by one-third to one-half if the violence or threat is committed with weapons, or by a disguised person, or by multiple persons gathered together, or if the violence consists in placing someone in a state of incapacity to will or to act (art. 629 of the Penal Code and the Lieutenant-Governor's Legislative Decree of Oct. 21, 1947, no. 1250). Blackmail is punished with imprisonment from eight to fifteen years, and with a fine from 80,000 to 160,000 lire; but the penalty of imprisonment is from twelve to eighteen years if the culprit achieves the intended purpose (art. 630 of the Penal Code and cited decree).

Extortion in part also encompasses qualified extortion, which is the act of a public official who, abusing his position or functions, compels or induces someone to give or promise unduly, to him or a third party, money or another benefit (it cannot be considered qualified extortion when there is no coercion but only inducement, and when the effect consists in obtaining or promising a non-economic benefit): in the Italian penal code, extortion by a public official (concussione) is punished with imprisonment from four to twelve years, with a fine from 24,000 to 400,000 lire, and with (normally perpetual) disqualification from public office (art. 317 and cited decree).

In canon law and moral theology, the crimes and sins discussed here are not specifically provided for, but fall, depending on the case, under the more general criminal categories of robbery, theft, and grave violence, enumerated in can. 2354 of the CIC: the penalty for laymen is exclusion (latae sententiae) from legitimate ecclesiastical acts and from any ecclesiastical office; for clerics, depending on the gravity of the act, penances, censures, deprivation of office, benefice, or dignity, and, where appropriate, deposition are applicable. A particular case of extortion by a public official is then provided for in can. 2408, whereby anyone who exacts stola fees (v. STOLA, DIRITTI di) or other ecclesiastical taxes in an amount greater than that established must be punished with a grave fine, and, in case of recidivism, with suspension from office or removal from the same.