The gov.t - mafia connection: how Italy takes rid of toxic waste

Mafia sank boat with radioactive waste: official

ROME — Italian authorities have discovered a ship that was sunk by the mafia off the coast of southern Italy with 120 barrels of radioactive waste on board, a local prosecutor said Monday.
The 110-metre (360-feet) long ship was found on Saturday 500 metres (1,640 feet) under water and around 28 kilometres (17 miles) from the coast of Calabria, Paola city prosecutor Bruno Giordano told AFP.
"For the moment, we do not know the origin of the waste, but it is probably from abroad. It is a first lead," he said.
The Cunsky is one of 32 vessels carrying toxic material that has been sunk by the mafia in the Mediterranean, according to the prosecutor's office in Reggio Calabria.
The location of the Cunsky was revealed by a Calabrese mafia turncoat, Francesco Fonti, who confessed to being behind the explosion that brought the ship down, officials said.
Sebastiano Venneri, vice president of the environmental group Legambiente, said former members of the 'Ndrangheta mafia have said that the crime syndicate was paid to sink ships with radioactive material for the last 20 years.
"An investigation on the origin of this waste is therefore necessary as soon as possible," Venneri told AFP.

www.euronews.net...

This is a matter that i would never even touch, but since the scandal exploded, here we go.
According to some local organizations the boats are nine maybe ten, if you keep in mind that their average size is 360 feet... do the math by yourselves.
For Italy, "special" waste has always been some issue, but we suffered also some VICTIM, meaning someone died while investigating on it

Ilaria Alpi (May 24, 1961 – March 20, 1994) was an Italian journalist killed in Mogadishu, Somalia together with her camera operator Miran Hrovatin under mysterious circumstances.

This woman was investigating on relationships between Italy and Somalia, but she stumbled upon some international traffic of toxic waste, involving not just Italian secret services and toxic waste, but also international weapon traffic:
one day, she has been killed together with her cameraman, Miran Hrovatin, with some barrage of AK47: notice that neither the driver nor the supposed body guard were even slightly injured, and they were in four on that car. She has been punished for doing her job And her cameraman as well
it.wikipedia.org...
www.ilariaalpi.it...
I will make a prediction, despite i'm not that able as Michael Cohen: NOTHING will be found there, there are huge boats filled with toxic waste and no one will find a heck of a nothing. This is the country i live in


[edit on 15/9/2009 by internos]

Star and Flag internos!

I was about to post this news and thought of doing a search in ATS in case someone else had beat me to it.

Read more at: www.huffingtonpost.com...

Italian Mafia 'Sunk Toxic Waste'

Read more at: www.huffingtonpost.com...

Italian authorities have begun investigating a shipwreck allegedly containing toxic waste off the Calabrian coast, after claims it was deliberately sunk by the mafia.

A former member of the criminal organisation says the vessel and its cargo were blown up in a lucrative radioactive disposal scheme and that the ship contained "nuclear" material.

Investigators have obtained pictures from a robot submarine with a video camera taken at the scene and are now examining samples taken from the wreck.

The Cunsky ship may be one of 32 vessels with toxic material on the Italian seabed, prosecutors said.


Read more at: www.huffingtonpost.com...

I hope people flag this thread. it's important news.

[edit on 17-9-2009 by spacebot]

reply to post by internos

good find internos.
Aljazera news was covering this story yesterday.
they reported that up to 20 ships may be involved in this Italy story.

daz

Its a wonder that the Italian mafia does not just take the ships off the Somalian coast and let the Somali pirates grab the ship.

I could just see the Somali pirates trying to get a ransom on a ship that no one even wants.
Then after holding the ship for a couple weeks/months realisng that they are starting to glow in the dark.

reply to post by internos


I saw this story earlier in the week.

Outrageous, isn't it?

Italy has always really been two nations, but stories like this make it clear that the south really could not be much more different than the north.

What is a wrong with a people who are so willing to do this type of stuff to its own?

Sad, really...

Thank you for your replies (ANNED your post was too funny, italian gov.t could even take your idea very seriously, that wouldn't surprise me at all)
Seriously, i find this story very concerning.
There are some updates:

Francesco Fonti, the "repetant" former member of calabrian mafia (ndrangheta), basically the guy who drove the magistrate to discover the first ship, also stated that there are for sure more boats loaded with toxic waste even off Toscana coast: but the most concerning statement is that there was some SYSTEM: it was a business. He stated that the price for loading a cargo could vary from 4.000.000.000 L.It to 30.000.000.000: a quick conversion would return between 3 millions and 20 millions $.

Once Italy exported illegally to Lebanon something like 9.532 tanks containing toxic (radioactive) stuff: but since they got caught, they had to take them back to Italy: they loaded the waste on a cargo called Jolly Rosso.
After sticking in La Spezia harbor for some unknown reasons, Jolly Rosso ended its career by stranding off Calabria's coast:

needless to say, its cargo was spreaded all over calabrian coast
and, needless to say, no one knows what happened to the radioactive waste
and, needless to say once again, the investigation ended with no results.

iltempo.ilsole24ore.com...
ilsecoloxix.ilsole24ore.com...
www.sciroccorosso.org...