One Camorra boss who turned informant, Antonio Iovine, told an Italian court that he committed so many murders, he lost count McKenna, There have been numerous clan wars, including a war between the Di Lauro clan and a break-off group that resulted in more than 60 murders between and In the mids, in the aftermath of the Naples earthquake of November 23, , the Camorra moved into waste hauling, primarily dumping garbage and toxic materials directly into quarries and other areas.
It was a diversification away from their primary source of illicit income, narcotics. Now I have another business. It pays more and the risk is less. It was estimated that in alone, illegal disposal of garbage and toxic waste generated The success of the waste-hauling operation is predicated on a steady supply of customers willing to go along with the Camorra. In many cases, the Camorra did not have to actively seek out willing partners, nor strong-arm companies to use their services.
The businesses that went along with the Camorra paid a tax to the Mob to assist with bribery of public officials. The Camorra then bribed officials to close incinerators, forcing more refuse to be trucked away, and by cornering the market on trucking firms, the Camorra was able to control virtually all the private refuse management in the region.
This is not dissimilar from the way the American Mafia controlled waste hauling in New York City for decades. The region of Campania is the epicenter of the waste crisis. Known as the Land of Fires, from the constant burning of garbage, Campania is one of the most densely populated, yet one of the poorest regions of Italy.
The Italian government has identified more than 5, dump sites in an area of 55 communities in the Campania region. All the dumping of waste, coupled with the fires from burning garbage, have caused a major human health crisis. Starting around , local doctors in the town of Maddaloni, 25 kilometers from Naples, began seeing a dramatic increase of patients coming in with cancer.
The types of cancer ranged from rare bone cancers and childhood leukemia to bladder and breast cancers. The other thing that mystified doctors was the age of patients, which had decreased significantly compared to years past.
The town of Acerra, halfway between Naples and Maddaloni, saw a rash of aggressive cancers and farmers with high levels of dioxins in their blood. Cancer rates in Acerra have risen 30 percent while other smaller towns have seen rates increases of up to 47 percent Newcomer, The Italian Cancer Research Institute in Naples found a 47 percent increase in tumors for men in the Naples area compared with the rest of Italy. The U.
The economy of the area was affected as well. Wine and olive oil exports from the region were also banned in For many people outside southern Italy, the fact that a major environmental crisis was unfolding in one of the richest countries in the world was not widely known. Skip to Main Content Skip to Search. News Corp is a global, diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content and other products and services.
Dow Jones. To Read the Full Story. Subscribe Sign In. Continue reading your article with a WSJ membership. The government is trying to tackle what many now regard as a very serious environmental and public health issue, he adds. Tens of millions of euros have just been set aside to cover the costs of medical examinations for people in a swathe of territory north of Naples. The army has been used twice before in recent times to help clear uncollected waste from Naples - in and , when they ferried rubbish out of the city in lorries after landfill sites became too full.
It was not immediately clear what role the military would play under the new proposal, which would need backing in parliament. However, Mr Alfano is confident of success: "For the first time, all political forces are in agreement to offer concrete solutions to resolve a specific problem. Hidden out of sight down dirt tracks in the countryside are vast mounds of illegal and hazardous waste, from broken sheets of asbestos to car tyres and containers of industrial-strength glue, AFP news agency reports.
Periodically set alight, they billow black fumes towards neighbouring towns but locals say the real killer lies in aquifers feeding tomato, cabbage and broccoli crops which are poisoned with chloroform, arsenic and heavy metals. So common has the phenomenon become that the area between Naples and Caserta has been nicknamed the "Land of Fires". According to environmental protection association Legambiente, 10m tonnes of industrial waste were burnt or buried in the zone between and , all trucked in at night.
Toxic waste has been buried in the area for decades, ever since the Camorra branched into the lucrative waste disposal business in the s.
Companies paid criminals a fraction of the cost of official waste firms to dump the waste in fields, wells and lakes.
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