Mafia making billions from environmental destruction

“The illegal handling of waste and illicit construction is destroying
Italy,” Roberto Saviano, the author of a damning book on the Camorra
mafia of Campania, wrote in the preface to the report, ‘Eco-mafia 2012’.

Although mafia activities were concentrated in the south the wealthy north of
the country was not immune, he said.

“Without this dossier, it is impossible to understand Italy.” Mafia
activities affecting the environment were “spreading to a large part of
Italy and penetrating new sectors,” the report warned.

Crimes against the environment included the deliberate torching of 150,000
acres of woodland and forests to make way for development, according to the
annual report.

Mobsters are also involved in illegal dog fights, poaching, clandestine horse
racing and the looting of archeological sites.

The mafia made millions in 2011 from illegally disposing of an estimated
346,000 tons of rubbish.

Long stretches of Italy’s coastline, especially in the south, have been marred
by ugly and inappropriate development funded by mafia groups with the
connivance of corrupt politicians.

In 2011 alone, more than 25,000 houses and other buildings were constructed
without the appropriate permits, the report said.

The Italian police arrested more than 300 people – nearly 50 per cent more
than the year before – and confiscated nearly 9,000 properties, but their
efforts did nothing to stem the assault on the environment, said Vittorio
Cogliati Dezza, the president of Legambiente.

The complicity of local authorities was key to the success of mafia dons –
already this year 18 local councils have been dissolved on suspicion of
mafia infiltration.

Campania, the region around crime-ridden Naples, was the region worst hit,
followed by Calabria – home to the ‘Ndrangheta mafia.

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