Italian Eco-Mafia On A Par With Major Industries In Size, Wealth - Reuters

[hatrack]

ROME - Italian Mafia activity that harms the environment -- from hazardous waste disposal to illegal construction -- enjoyed a boom year in 2004, an environmental report said on Tuesday.

"Eco-Mafia" business soared 30 percent last year to top 24 billion euros ($30 billion), putting its revenues on a par with Italy's biggest companies like Fiat, Italy's best known environmental group Legambiente said in its annual study of the racket. "It's a performance without equal in Italy," Legambiente said, calling the eco-Mafia a financial "tiger".

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In a sign that illegal waste dumps are taking their toll on the local population, a medical study last year showed residents near Naples were more susceptible to some cancers than the average Italian. The Mafia also has a stranglehold on cement and construction businesses in parts of southern Italy and is behind much of the illegal erection of buildings in parks, archaeological sites, beaches band other protected areas.

Legambiente said 32,000 new illegal constructions went up in 2004, an increase of 3,000 over the previous year, boosted in part by a building law allowing property owners to be pardoned for illegal work by paying a fine."

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http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/31052/story.htm

[phantom power]

1. At last...

some polluters with the guts to admit they are criminals.