Cable Viewer

Currently released so far... 5193 / 251,287

### Articles

Brazil Sri Lanka United Kingdom Sweden Editorial United States Latin America Egypt Yemen Jordan

### Browse latest releases

2010/11 2010/12 2011/01 2011/02 2011/03
2010/11/28 2010/11/29 2010/11/30
2010/12/01 2010/12/02 2010/12/03 2010/12/04 2010/12/05 2010/12/06 2010/12/07 2010/12/08 2010/12/09 2010/12/10 2010/12/11 2010/12/12 2010/12/13 2010/12/14 2010/12/15 2010/12/16 2010/12/17 2010/12/18 2010/12/19 2010/12/20 2010/12/21 2010/12/22 2010/12/23 2010/12/24 2010/12/25 2010/12/26 2010/12/27 2010/12/28 2010/12/29 2010/12/30
2011/01/01 2011/01/02 2011/01/04 2011/01/05 2011/01/07 2011/01/09 2011/01/10 2011/01/11 2011/01/12 2011/01/13 2011/01/14 2011/01/15 2011/01/16 2011/01/17 2011/01/18 2011/01/19 2011/01/20 2011/01/21 2011/01/22 2011/01/23 2011/01/24 2011/01/25 2011/01/26 2011/01/27 2011/01/28 2011/01/29 2011/01/30 2011/01/31
2011/02/01 2011/02/02 2011/02/03 2011/02/04 2011/02/05 2011/02/06 2011/02/07 2011/02/08 2011/02/09 2011/02/10 2011/02/11 2011/02/12 2011/02/13 2011/02/14 2011/02/15 2011/02/16 2011/02/17 2011/02/18 2011/02/19 2011/02/20 2011/02/21 2011/02/22 2011/02/23 2011/02/24 2011/02/25 2011/02/26 2011/02/27 2011/02/28
2011/03/01 2011/03/02 2011/03/03

### Browse by creation date

66 72 73 75 79 86 88 89 90 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
1966/12
1972/02 1972/08
1973/04
1975/03
1979/08
1986/05
1988/01
1989/12
1990/01 1990/07 1990/08
2000/06 2000/09 2000/11
2001/02 2001/03 2001/07 2001/10
2002/02 2002/03 2002/11
2003/03 2003/04 2003/05 2003/06 2003/07 2003/08 2003/09 2003/10 2003/11 2003/12
2004/01 2004/02 2004/03 2004/04 2004/05 2004/06 2004/07 2004/08 2004/09 2004/10 2004/11 2004/12
2005/01 2005/02 2005/03 2005/04 2005/05 2005/06 2005/07 2005/08 2005/09 2005/10 2005/11 2005/12
2006/01 2006/02 2006/03 2006/04 2006/05 2006/06 2006/07 2006/08 2006/09 2006/10 2006/11 2006/12
2007/01 2007/02 2007/03 2007/04 2007/05 2007/06 2007/07 2007/08 2007/09 2007/10 2007/11 2007/12
2008/01 2008/02 2008/03 2008/04 2008/05 2008/06 2008/07 2008/08 2008/09 2008/10 2008/11 2008/12
2009/01 2009/02 2009/03 2009/04 2009/05 2009/06 2009/07 2009/08 2009/09 2009/10 2009/11 2009/12
2010/01 2010/02

### Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Embassy Athens Embassy Asuncion Embassy Astana Embassy Asmara Embassy Ashgabat Embassy Ankara Embassy Amman Embassy Algiers Embassy Addis Ababa Embassy Accra Embassy Abuja Embassy Abu Dhabi Embassy Abidjan Consulate Amsterdam American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Embassy Bujumbura Embassy Buenos Aires Embassy Budapest Embassy Bucharest Embassy Brussels Embassy Bridgetown Embassy Bratislava Embassy Brasilia Embassy Bogota Embassy Bishkek Embassy Bern Embassy Berlin Embassy Belgrade Embassy Beirut Embassy Beijing Embassy Banjul Embassy Bangkok Embassy Bandar Seri Begawan Embassy Bamako Embassy Baku Embassy Baghdad Consulate Barcelona
Embassy Copenhagen Embassy Conakry Embassy Colombo Embassy Chisinau Embassy Caracas Embassy Canberra Embassy Cairo Consulate Curacao Consulate Casablanca Consulate Cape Town
Embassy Dushanbe Embassy Dublin Embassy Doha Embassy Djibouti Embassy Dhaka Embassy Dar Es Salaam Embassy Damascus Embassy Dakar Consulate Dubai
Embassy Freetown
Embassy Guatemala Embassy Gaborone Consulate Guadalajara
Embassy Helsinki Embassy Harare Embassy Hanoi Consulate Hermosillo Consulate Hamburg
Iran RPO Dubai Embassy Islamabad Consulate Istanbul
Embassy Jakarta Consulate Jerusalem Consulate Jeddah
Embassy Kyiv Embassy Kuwait Embassy Kuala Lumpur Embassy Kinshasa Embassy Kigali Embassy Khartoum Embassy Kampala Embassy Kabul
Embassy Luxembourg Embassy Luanda Embassy London Embassy Ljubljana Embassy Lisbon Embassy Lima Embassy Lilongwe Embassy La Paz Consulate Lagos
Mission USNATO Embassy Muscat Embassy Moscow Embassy Montevideo Embassy Monrovia Embassy Minsk Embassy Mexico Embassy Mbabane Embassy Maputo Embassy Manama Embassy Managua Embassy Malabo Embassy Madrid Consulate Munich Consulate Montreal Consulate Monterrey
Embassy New Delhi Embassy Nassau Embassy Nairobi Consulate Naples
Embassy Ouagadougou Embassy Ottawa Embassy Oslo
Embassy Pristina Embassy Pretoria Embassy Prague Embassy Port Au Prince Embassy Phnom Penh Embassy Paris Embassy Paramaribo Embassy Panama Consulate Peshawar
Embassy Quito
REO Basrah Embassy Rome Embassy Riyadh Embassy Riga Embassy Reykjavik Embassy Rangoon Embassy Rabat Consulate Rio De Janeiro Consulate Recife
Secretary of State Embassy Stockholm Embassy Sofia Embassy Skopje Embassy Singapore Embassy Seoul Embassy Sarajevo Embassy Santo Domingo Embassy Santiago Embassy Sanaa Embassy San Salvador Embassy San Jose Consulate Strasbourg Consulate Shenyang Consulate Shanghai Consulate Sao Paulo
Embassy Tunis Embassy Tripoli Embassy Tokyo Embassy The Hague Embassy Tel Aviv Embassy Tehran Embassy Tegucigalpa Embassy Tbilisi Embassy Tashkent Embassy Tallinn
USUN New York USEU Brussels US Mission Geneva US Interests Section Havana US Delegation, Secretary UNVIE Embassy Ulaanbaatar
Embassy Vilnius Embassy Vienna Embassy Vatican Consulate Vladivostok
Embassy Windhoek Embassy Wellington Embassy Warsaw
Embassy Yerevan Embassy Yaounde
Embassy Zagreb

### Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
AF ASEC AR AORC AJ AM AMGT AE AU AGMT AG AS AFIN APER ABUD ATRN AL AEMR ACOA AO AX AMED ADCO AODE AFFAIRS AC ASIG ABLD AA AFU ASUP AROC ATFN AVERY APCS AER ASECKFRDCVISKIRFPHUMSMIGEG AEC APECO
BM BR BL BA BILAT BTIO BEXP BH BE BK BRUSSELS BX BU BO BIDEN BY BG BF BB BC BBSR BMGT BTIU
CU CO CH CDG CIA CACM CDB CI CS CVIS CA CBW CASC CD CV CMGT CLINTON CE CJAN CG CF CN CAN COUNTER CIS CM CONDOLEEZZA COE CR CY CTM COUNTRY CLEARANCE CPAS CWC CT CKGR CB CACS COM CJUS CARSON CL COUNTERTERRORISM
DJ DEAX DR DA DHS DOE DEA DK DISENGAGEMENT DS DTRA DOD
EG ECON ETTC EFIN EZ ETRD EUN ELAB EU EINV EAID EMIN ENRG ECPS EN ER ET ES EPET EUC EI EAIR EAGR EIND EWWT ELTN EREL ECIN EFIS EINT EC ECONEFIN ENVR ECA ELN EFTA EXTERNAL EINVETC ENIV EINN ENGR EUR ESA ENERG EK ENGY ETRO ETRDEINVECINPGOVCS ETRDEINVTINTCS ELECTIONS ECUN EINVEFIN ECIP EINDETRD
FR FINR FAO FTAA FREEDOM FI FARC FBI FJ FMLN
GM GG GV GH GA GE GT GR GTIP GOI GCC GAZA GZ GTMO
HU HR HA HILLARY HUMAN HO HYMPSK HURI HK HSTC
IV IR IS IZ IAEA IN IT ICTY IQ ICAO INTERPOL IPR INRB IRAJ INRA INRO IO IC ID IIP ITPHUM IWC ISRAELI IRAQI ICRC IMO IF ILC IEFIN INTELSAT IL IA IBRD IMF INR IRC ITALY ITALIAN
JAMES JO JA JOSEPH JP JOHNNIE JUS
KGIC KDEM KTIP KOMC KNNP KWBG KU KPAL KGHG KAWK KISL KPAO KHLS KSUM KSPR KJUS KCRM KGCC KPIN KDRG KTFN KG KBIO KHIV KSCA KN KS KCOR KZ KE KFRD KIPR KPKO KNUC KMDR KPLS KOLY KUNR KIRF KIRC KACT KRAD KCOM KMCA KV KHDP KVPR KDEV KWMN KMPI KFRDCVISCMGTCASCKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KCFC KTIA KPRP KAWC KCIP KCFE KOCI KTDB KMRS KLIG KBCT KICC KGIT KSTC KPAK KNEI KSEP KPOA KFLU KNUP KNNPMNUC KO KTER KHUM KRFD KBTR KDDG KWWMN KFLO KSAF KBTS KPRV KNPP KNAR KWMM KERG KFIN KFRDKIRFCVISCMGTKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KTBT KCRS KRVC KSTH KREL KNSD KTEX KPAI KHSA KR KPWR KWAC KMIG KSEC KIFR KDEMAF
LE LG LH LY LU LI LO LOG LT
MOPS MARR MNUC MX MASS MCAP MO MIL MTCRE ML MR MZ MPOS MOPPS MTCR MAPP MU MY MA MG MASC MCC MEPP MK MTRE MP MDC MAR MEPI MRCRE MI MT MQADHAFI MD MAPS MUCN MASSMNUC MERCOSUR
NATO NL NU NIPP NI NPT NG NO NE NS NAR NZ NPG NK NSG NA NT NASA NGO NP NSF NATIONAL
OVIP OPDC OPRC OIIP OFFICIALS OSAC OAS OEXC ODIP OREP OFDP OTRA OSCE OPIC OECD OPCW OSCI OIE OIC OTR OVP
PARM PREL PTER PHUM PGOV PINR PINS PREF PK PE PBTS POGOV PROP PINL PL POL PBIO PSOE PHSA PKFK PO PGOF PA PARMS PORG PM PMIL PTERE PF PALESTINIAN PY PGGV PNR POV PAK PAO PFOR PHALANAGE PARTY PRGOV PNAT PROV PEL PINF PGOVE POLINT PRL PRAM PMAR PGOVLO PHUMBA PHUS PHUMPREL POLITICS PEPR PSI PINT PU POLITICAL PARTIES PECON
QA
RS RO REGION RU RW RP RIGHTS RICE ROBERT RF RFE
SOCI SY SENV SA SP SNAR SG SCUL SR STEINBERG SF SW SU SL SMIG SO SN SHUM SZ SYR ST SANC SC SAN SIPRS SK SH SI
TS TU TX TBIO TW TSPA TH TIP TI TRGY TC TR TT TERRORISM TO TFIN TD TSPL TZ TPHY TK TNGD TINT TRSY
UK UN US UNGA UNSC UNO UNMIK UV UY UP UG USEU USUN UZ UNESCO UE UAE UNEP USTR UNHCR UNDP UNHRC USAID UNCHS UNAUS UNCHC
VE VZ VN VT VM VTPREL
WTO WTRO WA WI WZ WMO WTRQ WHO WWARD WB WBG WEU WHA
XG XT XM XF XR XS XL XK XH XA XY XC XZ XW XD XE
YE YM YI
ZB ZI ZF ZP ZK ZANU ZOELLICK ZR ZU ZA ZO ZJ

### Browse by classification

CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN SECRET SECRET//NOFORN UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

### Community resources

Follow us on Twitter Check our Reddit Twitter this Digg this page Contact us on IRC

courage is contagious

### Viewing cable 08NAPLES37, ORGANIZED CRIME IN ITALY II: HOW ORGANIZED CRIME DISTORTS

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs
Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:

- The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
- The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
- The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.

To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.
Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #08NAPLES37.

Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08NAPLES37 | 2008-06-06 10:10 | 2011-01-07 21:09 | CONFIDENTIAL | Consulate Naples

`

    VZCZCXRO2948
    RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
    DE RUEHNP #0037/01 1581050
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    R 061050Z JUN 08
    FM AMCONSUL NAPLES
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6213
    INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
    RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
    RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
    RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
    RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
    RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
    RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
    RUEABND/DEA HQ WASHDC
    RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
    RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
    RUKAINT/CDRUSAREUR DCSINT HEIDELBERG GE
    RHMFISS/HQ USAFE RAMSTEIN AB GE
    RUETIAA/DIRNSA FT GEORGE G MEADE MD
    RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
    RHMFISS/COMUSNAVEUR NAPLES IT
    RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
    RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 0006
    RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0014
    RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE 0078
    RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN 0097
    RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES 0947

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NAPLES 000037

    SIPDIS

    STATE ALSO PASS TO ONDCP; TREASURY FOR OFAC

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/5/2018
    TAGS: ECON KCRM SENV SNAR EFIN PGOV KCOR IT
    SUBJECT: ORGANIZED CRIME IN ITALY II: HOW ORGANIZED CRIME DISTORTS
    MARKETS AND LIMITS ITALY'S GROWTH

    REF: (A) NAPLES 36 (B) 07 NAPLES 119

    NAPLES 00000037 001.2 OF 004

    CLASSIFIED BY: J. PATRICK TRUHN, CONSUL GENERAL, AMCONGEN
    NAPLES, STATE.
    REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)
    ¶1. (U) Summary: This is the second of a three-part series;
    this message examines the economic dimension of organized crime
    in Southern Italy. According to a recent study, organized crime
    is the biggest individual segment of the Italian economy,
    accounting for seven percent of GDP. Wherever it occurs,
    organized crime in Italy distorts markets. While in some
    instances it lowers prices (but usually with adverse side
    effects), in general its activities (e.g., extortion, rigging of
    public contracts) lead to higher costs for the government,
    business owners and consumers. Estimates of how much organized
    crime costs the country are at best approximate, and do not
    always take into account the lost opportunities for foreign
    investment, the pernicious environmental and health effects, the
    losses due to corruption and inefficiency, and social costs
    related to higher rates of drug dependency and drug-related
    crimes. The three main organized crime groups in Italy earn
    tens to hundreds of billions of euros a year, depending on the
    estimate. End summary.

    Organized Crime: Businessmen With Guns
    -----------------------------------------

    ¶2. (U) Often viewed as a political or social phenomenon,
    organized crime in Italy, as in any country, is first and
    foremost a business. A 2007 report by the Italian business
    association Conferescenti estimates that it is the biggest
    sector of the Italian economy, with a 90 billion euro ($143 b)
    turnover, accounting for seven percent of GDP, and 20,000
    "employees." However, because illegal activity is by definition
    clandestine, it is impossible to quantify all of its effects on
    the economy. Organized crime distorts prices (mostly upwards,
    but sometimes downwards); undermines legitimate business;
    discourages entrepreneurship and the establishment of large
    businesses; and hinders economic growth, not only in the South
    but throughout Italy. The GOI's Statistics Institute (ISTAT)
    calculated in late 2007 that Italy's underground economy
    accounts for about 18 percent of total GDP; not all of the
    black-market economy, however, is run by organized crime.
    According to a 2008 study by the anti-Mafia Rocco Chinnici
    Foundation, extortion, loan sharking, money laundering, tax
    evasion and wasted public funds are estimated to cost the
    Sicilian economy a hefty one billion euros annually, or 1.3
    percent of the island's GDP. According to another study by the
    Eurispes Institute (an Italian think tank), the Cosa Nostra
    earns over eight billion euros ($12.7 b) a year from its
    activities; the Camorra about 12 billion euros ($19 b) a year;
    and the 'Ndrangheta 36 billion euros ($57.2 b) a year --
    basically tax-free. A May 2008 report by the Eurispes think
    tank calculates that the 'Ndrangheta's business operations
    represent 2.9 percent of Italy's GDP, or 44 billion euros ($70.8
    b) per year, the equivalent to the combined GDPs of booming EU
    members Slovenia and Estonia. Sixty-two percent of this amount
    comes from the drug trade. A CENSIS study estimates that
    organized crime annually drains 5.7 billion euros from the
    Italian economy and represents a loss of 2.5 percent in the
    South's economic growth. Italy's Treasury Police estimated in
    2005 that the profits realized from illicit activities (not all
    of which are controlled by these three groups) ranged from 500
    to 1,000 billion euros per year. The wide range of these
    various estimates is an indication of just how difficult it is
    to calculate the profit and effects of organized crime in Italy.

    ¶3. (C) In addition to extracting money from others, the Mafia
    engages in its own entrepreneurship when it comes to public
    contracts, especially in the construction industry. In the case
    of Cosa Nostra, for example, the criminal organizations, using
    money laundered from other illegal activities such as extortion,
    turn private real estate companies into Mafia-controlled
    monopolies. Through a system of programmed rotation, all of the

    NAPLES 00000037 002.2 OF 004

    companies controlled by the Mafia are guaranteed contracts while
    offering only a minimal discount; the lucrative profits allow
    the contract winners to deliver larger bribes to both the Mafia
    and the corrupt politicians and public officials who accommodate
    it. Through such transactions, billions of euros in central
    government and EU development funds have wound up in the hands
    of organized crime. Lorenzo Diana, a former Senator and former
    head of the Democratic Left Party's anti-Mafia unit, makes the
    credible assertion that most of the highway running from Naples
    to Reggio Calabria was built -- using substandard materials and
    methods -- by Camorra and 'Ndrangheta clans. According to
    Vincenzo Macri, a deputy anti-Mafia prosecutor, the proposed
    Strait of Messina bridge (linking Sicily to the mainland) is
    another goldmine on the horizon for organized crime. Although
    the crime syndicates would be only marginally involved in the
    planning, the realization phase will offer billions of euros in
    contracts and subcontracts for construction, materials, services
    and other forms of what he terms "indifference."

    ¶4. (C) Prices for most goods and services in Southern Italy are
    anywhere between two and five percent higher than what they
    would be in the absence of organized crime, according to several
    sources. Giuseppe Gennaro, and anti-Mafia prosecutor in
    Catania, Sicily, tells us that the Cosa Nostra takes a two to
    three percent "tax" on most transactions in Sicily. In Reggio
    Calabria, Prefect Salvatore Montanaro says 70 to 80 percent of
    businesses in his province pay protection money; estimates for
    Sicily are similar, while about 40 percent of businesses in
    Campania and Apulia reportedly make extortion payments. SOS
    Impresa, an anti-racket association, estimates that the
    mafia-related cost to Italian merchants is 30 billion euros
    ($47.7 b) annually, including 12 billion from usury, 11 billion
    from rigged contracts and six billion from extortion.
    Protection "fees" range from 100 to 500 euros per month for
    small stores to 10,000 euros per month for construction sites.
    Those who refuse to pay are threatened, harassed and sometimes
    attacked or killed, or their businesses are burned. According
    to the Chinnici Foundation study, however, those who do pay do
    not feel any safer. One long-term extortion victim claimed his
    payments "resulted in no concrete benefit, either in terms of
    security or business growth." Another called it "a
    liberty-killing event, the worst insult, an attack on your very
    existence...like kicking yourself in the face."

    ¶5. (C) This is not to say that the market distortions always
    raise prices. According to Roberto Saviano, author of a
    best-selling book about the Camorra, industries can save up to
    80 percent of the cost to legally dispose of their toxic waste
    by hiring the Camorra to dispose of it clandestinely. This
    actually makes many factories (virtually all of which are
    located in northern Italy) more competitive, but at a terrible
    environmental cost (the brunt of which is paid by residents in
    the South, where the waste winds up). According to former MP
    Isaia Sales, an expert who has written two books on the Camorra,
    organized crime sometimes lowers agricultural and food prices,
    too, by favoring certain business owners who are able to produce
    more efficiently due to increased business. The Camorra also
    lowers real estate values, by forcing property owners to sell at
    ridiculously low prices through intimidation. Similar to the
    Camorra's trafficking in toxic waste to reduce the burden for
    northern Italian business, the 'Ndrangheta (according to Mario
    Spagnuolo, anti-Mafia prosecutor in Catanzaro) manages illegal
    immigration rings that provide foreign workers to Calabrian
    employers for a mere 20 to 30 euros a day, thus lowering labor
    costs for some businesses. Spagnuolo also says the 'Ndrangheta
    has so streamlined the arms market (trafficking, for example, in
    leftovers from the Bosnia war) that one can purchase a
    Kalashnikov assault rifle for one-third the price of a legally
    purchased pistol.

    NAPLES 00000037 003.2 OF 004

    Environmental and Health Costs
    ------------------------------

    ¶6. (U) The effects on the environment and health are stunning.
    Saviano told a recent interviewer that the Camorra earned six
    billion euros in two years from toxic waste disposal.
    "Farmlands bought at extremely low prices are transformed into
    illegal dumping grounds.... The type of garbage dumped includes
    everything: barrels of paint, printer toner, human skeletons,
    cloths used for cleaning cow udders, zinc, arsenic and the
    residue of industrial chemicals." Authorities near Naples
    discovered in February 2008 a dump brimming with hospital waste,
    including used syringes, thousands of vials of blood samples and
    a human embryo. Legitimate landfills have also been also used
    for illegal dumping, one of the reasons they are now at
    capacity, which has led to a waste disposal crisis throughout a
    large part of Campania region (ref B). In 2006, the World
    Health Organization found rates for stomach, liver, kidney, lung
    and pancreatic cancer to be up to 12 percent higher than the
    national average in areas just north of Naples where the Camorra
    has dumped thousands of truckloads of toxic waste. The
    environmental costs of organized crime may never be calculable,
    and the overall costs in terms of human and animal disease and
    mortality cannot be quantified.

    ¶7. (U) Organized crime's environmental impact extends to food
    frauds, and Campania leads the country in this sector.
    According to police reports, the Camorra runs an estimated 2,000
    illegal bakeries (two thirds of the region's total), using
    expired flour and ovens which emit toxic fumes (the "wood" is
    often old doors covered in paint). Caserta has illegal cheese
    factories which mix buffalo milk with powdered milk from
    Bolivia, cutting retail mozzarella costs by a third; they also
    use lime to help ricotta "keep" longer. According to a
    Commander of Naples' Carabinieri, the most flourishing business
    is recycling expired products. The Camorra also passes off
    low-quality imports with made-in-Campania labels, from
    pesticide-laden Moldovan apples to E. coli-infested Moroccan
    industrial salt. Organized crime is also heavily involved in
    IPR fraud, from fake designer fashion bags to bogus DVDs;
    Sicilian authorities even discovered recently several garages
    where fake Ferraris were being manufactured.

    Creating Chaos
    --------------

    ¶8. (C) Organized crime also has insidious effects on the urban
    landscape. Giap Parini, a researcher who met us at the
    University of Calabria in Cosenza, says that it is wrong to
    think of mob-infested cities as poor; on the contrary, they can
    be inhabited by wealthy bosses. Behind the run-down exterior
    walls are golden faucets and marble bathrooms. No, the main
    characteristic of a mob city, Parini argues, is chaos.
    Uncontrolled expansion, illegal construction, lack of green
    spaces, failed urban planning, incomplete public works, poor
    infrastructure, low educational standards, and general
    government inefficiency are all signs of organized crime.
    Mayors who try to install illumination in public areas often
    find the lights broken within a day, as streetlamps are not
    propitious for drug dealing. Naples Prosecutor GianDomenico
    Lepore says politicians and citizens do not realize the burden
    that organized crime is on the economy: "There's no development
    here." Indeed, the Camorra made an enormous profit in the early
    1980s by constructing public housing in Naples after a major
    earthquake; today, these neighborhoods are characterized by
    crumbling cement high-rises and an absence of piazzas, stores,
    parks and trees.

    ¶9. (C) Ironically, according to University of Calabria
    sociology professor Pietro Fantozzi, there are more giant

    NAPLES 00000037 004.2 OF 004

    shopping malls per capita in poverty-stricken Calabria than in
    the prosperous Milan metropolitan area. Throughout Southern
    Italy, highway exits are lined with luxury car dealerships,
    expensive home decoration stores, and ostentatious,
    neo-classical villas -- fantasies about which the general public
    (nearly a third of whom are living at or below poverty level)
    can only dream.

    ¶10. (SBU) Comment: Put all these factors together and it
    becomes clear that organized crime is a major, if not the main
    reason why the southern Italian economy lags so far behind that
    of the rest of the country, and one of the main causes of
    Italy's growth lagging behind the rest of the European Union.
    Organized crime keeps away investors and ensures that small
    businesses cannot become large, which in turn perpetuates the
    high unemployment rates (averaging 20 percent in the South, and
    35 percent for young people). Extortion and the imposition of
    Mafia-associated suppliers make many businesses unprofitable;
    business owners must compensate by raising prices and/or by not
    paying taxes. Attempts by the government or the EU to spark
    development in the South are frustrated by Mafia-run corruption
    and mob fixing of contracts and sub-contracts. Legitimate
    businesses are also undercut by Mafia-led production and
    distribution of pirated and counterfeit products. Development
    would create an alternative to organized crime that would put
    its practitioners out of business, so it is in the mob's
    interest to retard economic and social development. Not
    surprisingly, a study published in January 2008 by researchers
    at the Magna Grecia University of Catanzaro and Naples' Federico
    II University showed that the presence of organized crime is a
    strong disincentive for foreign investors. While the
    established U.S. businesses in the South (almost all of which
    are relatively large) have not complained to ConGen Naples about
    organized crime, countless potential investors have expressed to
    our Commercial Service office a reluctance to invest out of fear
    of the mob. Southern Italy has few major U.S. investments
    compared to the rest of the country. In the end, the costs of
    organized crime are felt directly or indirectly by virtually
    every Italian citizen. While the problem might seem
    intractable, the third and final cable in this series will
    examine ways Italy and the United States can successfully
    confront organized crime. End comment.
    TRUHN

`