Mafia’s toxic secret revealed

[bananas]

Source: Independent Online

Italy is reeling from revelations from a former boss that the mafia made money from the late 1980s onwards by dumping huge quantities of toxic waste throughout southern Italy, endangering the lives of millions of people.

Carmine Schiavone, an ex-affiliate of the Camorra, the Neapolitan branch of the Italian mafia, made the shocking statement to a parliamentary committee of inquiry in 1997. His remarks were protected by state secrecy laws until they were lifted on Thursday.

<snip>

There was industrial waste from northern Italy, but also radioactive material from Germany, which was disposed of in caves up to 50m deep, near groundwater reserves, as well as in fish tanks and lakes, Schiavone said.

The Camorra is continuing its activities today, he said on Friday, after a transcript of his 16-year-old statement was made public. “They did it then and they are still doing it,” he told RAI state television.

<snip>

“Even relatives of Camorristi are falling ill from cancer. How stupid,” Father Patriciello, the local priest, said. He plans to take part in a popular protest due to take place in Naples on November 16.

Meanwhile, authorities have pledged clean-up action. On November 6, experts were due to begin checking the coastline in Licola, just north of Naples.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/mafia-s-toxic-secret-revealed-1.1601501

[trusty elf]

1. Gawd, that's awful.

[QuestForSense]

2. Psychopathy, old school.

[bemildred]

3. Greed makes you stupid. nt

[Bortman33]

4. Thank god

the banksters don't produce industrial waste, it's tough enough dealing with the Koch brothers industrial externalities.

[Indi Guy]

19. You need to look into FRACKING...

Big oil & gas are crapping all over this country.

[ReRe]

5. To the tune of "It's A Small World After All":

It's a 'toxicworld, after all,
It's a 'toxicworld after all,
It's a 'toxicworld after all,
It's a toxic effed-up world!

Corporations the world over are bringing about the demise of us all, when they could make as much money doing the right thing and save the world. Psychopaths are in control of the planet, folks.

[Scuba]

6. And just how is this different from ....

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/05/28/wal-mart-waste/2366999/

Wal-Mart pleads guilty to dumping hazardous waste

In cases filed in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Wal-Mart pleaded guilty to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally handling and disposing of hazardous materials at its retail stores across the United States.

...

'This case is as big as Wal-Mart is," says Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Johns, chief of the Justice Department's environmental crimes section in Los Angeles. "This conduct is alleged to have taken place at every single Walmart in the country."

[fasttense]

10. Wal-Mart following in the steps of organized crime.

You know your country is little more than a corporate dump when organized crime gets tips from our biggest most successful corporations.

"This conduct is alleged to have taken place at every single Walmart in the country." That is 4,759 dump site locations. Just in this country? I bet they are doing it in ALL their store.

[adirondacker]

21. Years ago I told my niece and nephew that Walmart was nothing but a waste transfer station. nt

[vanlassie]

7. Doncha just love "state secrecy laws?"

[dotymed]

9. Yep, How fucking many people have died between 1997 and now?

That is 6 years of inaction.
Idiotic bureaucracy.

[antigone382]

18. 16 years, in fact. n/t

[billhicks76]

13. Happens Here Too

Everyday I bet.

[dotymed]

22. Yes it does.

If we knew how much toxic waste (and where) is dumped illegally in America, every day (for profit), I fear it would be an astronomical figure.
Even the "legal" nuclear waste containment is waaay inadequate (as a carpenter, I was exposed), yet greed makes people do anything.

It is so easy for a Koch type operation to pay (it wouldn't take much $$) someone to dispose of some barreled up chemicals (poison)
in a pre-dug hole that they had an employee backhoe. It may (may not) bother that person but the need to feed his/her family or pay for medical help.. overrides what they know will cause misery in the future to someone else...
What a f'ed up world capitalism creates.

[nikto]

8. Hey! We gonna'...

make you some pollution you can't refuse.

[Turbineguy]

11. Luckily, they have the Mafia to clean it up.

In the late 1990's they built a new container port south of Naples, Gioa Tauro. The Mafia supplied the cement. So they built it twice.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. The BBC 'Magazine' article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24678624

[Jesus Malverde]

14. The original conflict with the solmali "pirates"

Was said to stem from dumping of toxic waste in their fishing grounds.

[adirondacker]

20. Makes me wonder what's going on in Nigeria lately. nt

[Octafish]

15. Explains Mystery Box in Genoa

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_radioactivecargo/

[Blue_Tires]

16. Isn't there some big illegal mountain of garbage in Sicily somewhere

that no one has bothered to address?

[Uncle Joe]

17. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bananas.

[kelliekat44]

23. Why surprise? It was widely known and written about that the Mafia did the same thing here in US.

They owned or controlled huge solid waste firms that dumped toxic waste in poor and minority neighborhoods all across the nation and especially in the south and mid-west. I'll dig up the links if I can find them.

Edited to add one link

http://www.ejnet.org/rachel/rhwn040.htm

There are many more links out there. Inform yourselves.

http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/2013/01/waste-management-mafia-charged-in-new-york.html

Another link.