Ecomafia is an Italian neologism for criminal activities related to organized crime which cause damage to the environment. The term was coined by the Italian environmentalist organization Legambiente in 1994 and has since seen widespread use. [1] In Italy, environmental crime is one of the fastest-growing and most profitable forms of criminal activity. [2] As of 2012, an estimated 30% of Italy's waste is disposed of illegally by organized crime syndicates. [3] The United Nations Environment Programme estimated that criminal organizations earned approximately $20–30 billion USD from environmental crimes. [4] According to a 2024 report by Italian NGO Lagembiente, the entire illegal waste disposal market in Italy was worth €8.8 billion in 2023 and was dominated by more than 300 mafia clans. [5]
The primary activities in which the ecomafia is involved are the illegal trafficking and disposal of waste, illegal construction, and the trafficking of exotic animals and stolen art. [1] The Italian ecomafia is closely connected.
In Italy, the term ecomafia is generally used to describe criminal syndicate s which traffic and illegally dispose of industrial, commercial, and radioactive waste. Mafia-related organizations frequently illegally bury waste in southern Italy and build real estate on top of the dumps. Between 2008 and 2010, an estimated 17,000 houses were built on illegal waste dumps. [6]
The 'Ndrangheta and Camorra syndicates are frequently implicated in environmental crimes, particularly the illegal disposal of hazardous waste. [7] In the 21st century, the criminal organizations in Italy have allied with the Chinese mafia, and cooperated with them on enterprises related to environmental crime. [8] Although public perception in Italy attributes most environmental crimes to criminal organizations, corporations in Italy commit environmental crimes more frequently than criminal organizations with mafia ties. Waste disposal is also used as a cover by criminal organizations to conceal the trafficking of drugs, human trafficking, and other illicit activities. [2]
The unsafe disposal of waste in lakes and grazing land around the Caserta region of Italy has contributed to rising levels of toxins in the dairy and agricultural produce of the region, which forced Italian authorities to declare certain regions off-limits for grazing. [9]
In response to the emergence of widespread environmental crimes, the Carabinieri, a police branch of Italy's military, has created a separate branch which specializes in environmental crime. In 2015, environmental police discovered a dump containing industrial waste, medical waste, asbestos, and building materials behind a house in Casal di Principe connected to the Camorra organized crime syndicate. The region of Caserta, where the dump was found, has been associated with the ecomafia since the 1980s when illegal dumping began. [10] The region became known as the "Land of pyres" (terra dei fuochi) because of the common criminal practice of burning toxic waste to dispose of it. [11]
Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, rebel forces, and separatists, are politically motivated. Many criminal organizations rely on fear or terror to achieve their goals or aims as well as to maintain control within the organization and may adopt tactics commonly used by authoritarian regimes to maintain power. Some forms of organized crime simply exist to cater towards demand of illegal goods in a state or to facilitate trade of goods and services that may have been banned by a state. Sometimes, criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts protection money from shopkeepers. Street gangs may often be deemed organized crime groups or, under stricter definitions of organized crime, may become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization can also be referred to as an outfit, a gang, crime family, mafia, mob, (crime) ring, or syndicate; the network, subculture, and community of criminals involved in organized crime may be referred to as the underworld or gangland. Sociologists sometimes specifically distinguish a "mafia" as a type of organized crime group that specializes in the supply of extra-legal protection and quasi-law enforcement. Academic studies of the original "Mafia", the Italian Mafia, as well as its American counterpart, generated an economic study of organized crime groups and exerted great influence on studies of the Russian mafia, the Chinese triads, the Hong Kong triads, and the Japanese yakuza.
The Camorra is an Italian Mafia-type criminal organization and criminal society originating in the region of Campania. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 18th century. The Camorra's organizational structure is divided into individual groups called "clans". Every capo or "boss" is the head of a clan, in which there may be tens or hundreds of affiliates, depending on the clan's power and structure. The Camorra's main businesses are drug trafficking, racketeering, counterfeiting, and money laundering. It is also not unusual for Camorra clans to infiltrate the politics of their respective areas.
Environmental crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. These illegal activities involve the environment, wildlife, biodiversity, and natural resources. International bodies such as, G7, Interpol, European Union, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, have recognized the following environmental crimes:
Criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially in the southern part of the country, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions. There are major native mafia-like organizations that are heavily active in Italy. The most powerful of these organizations are the Camorra from Campania, the 'Ndrangheta from Calabria and the Cosa Nostra from Sicily.
A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly in Italian organized crime and especially in the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory or a specific set of activities. In its strictest sense, a family is a criminal gang, operating either on a unitary basis or as an organized collection of smaller gangs. In turn, a family can be a sole "enterprise" or part of a larger syndicate or cartel. Despite the name, most crime families are generally not based on or formed around actual familial connections, although they do tend to be ethnically based, and many members may in fact be related to one another. Crime "families" tend to be associated more directly with their respective territories than the individuals to whom their members may or may not be related.
Cetraro is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.
The Casalesi clan is a clan within the Camorra, an Italian criminal organization, operating from San Cipriano d'Aversa in the province of Caserta. Formed by Antonio Bardellino, it is a confederation of clans in the Caserta area. The Casalesi clan is believed to be one of the most powerful groups within the Camorra, specialising in construction and keeping a lower profile than clans that focus on drug dealing.
The "Naples waste management crisis" is a series of events surrounding the lack of waste collection and illegal toxic waste dumping in and around the Province of Naples, Campania, Italy, beginning in the 1980s. In 1994, Campania formally declared a state of emergency, ending in 2008, however, the crisis has had negative effects on the environment and on human health, specifically in an area that became known as the triangle of death. Due to the burning of accumulated toxic wastes in overfilled landfills and the streets, Naples's surrounding areas became known as the "Land of pyres". The crisis is largely attributed to government failure to efficiently waste manage, as well as the illegal waste disposal by the Camorra criminal organization.
The 'Ndrangheta, a criminal organization from Calabria, Italy, has been involved in radioactive waste dumping since the 1980s. Ships with toxic and radioactive waste were sunk off the Italian coast. In addition, vessels were allegedly sent to Somalia and other developing countries with toxic waste, including radioactive waste cargoes, which were either sunk with the ship or buried on land. The introduction of more rigorous environmental legislation in the 1980s made illegal waste dumping a lucrative business for organized crime groups in Italy. The phenomenon of widespread environmental crime perpetrated by criminal syndicates like the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta has given rise to the term "ecomafia".
Francesco Fonti was an Italian criminal and a member of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type organisation in Calabria, who became a turncoat (pentito) collaborating with the authorities. He revealed radioactive waste dumping by the 'Ndrangheta.
The triangle of death is an area approximately 25 km northeast of the city of Naples in the Province of Naples, Campania, Italy, that comprises the comuni of Acerra, Nola and Marigliano. This area contains the largest illegal waste dump in Europe due to a waste management crisis in the 1990s and 2000s.
In politics, a mafia state or pakhanate is a state system where the government is tied with organized crime to the degree when government officials, the police, and/or military became a part of the criminal enterprise. According to US diplomats, the expression "mafia state" was coined by Alexander Litvinenko.
Although organized crime has always existed in Sweden, it has risen significantly in the 2000s. The number of organized criminal groups operating in the country continues to rise. In 2018, Sweden had the highest gun deaths in total across Europe, and deaths involving guns tripled in Sweden between 2012 and 2020.
Legambiente is an Italian environmentalist association with roots in the anti-nuclear movement that developed in Italy and throughout the Western world in the second half of the 1970s. Founded in 1980 as part of the ARCI, it later became a stand-alone organisation. Originally known as Lega per l'ambiente, it changed name during the IV National Congress held in Parma in 1992. The mission of the association is to make the environmental culture the centre of a new kind of development and diffused well-being. Important values for the association are the improvement of environmental quality, the fight against all forms of pollution, a wise use of natural resources, the construction of a more balanced relationship between human beings and the nature. It is considered the most widespread environmental organisation in Italy, as it is composed by a national headquarter in Rome, 20 regional branches, about 1,000 local groups and more than 115,000 members.
A triad is a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in Greater China with outposts in various countries having significant overseas Chinese populations.
Greek mafia is the colloquial term describing various large-scale organized crime elements originating in Greece or operated by Greeks. Indigenous organized criminal groups are well-established in the largest Greek urban centers, particularly in Athens.
Green criminology is a branch of criminology that involves the study of harms and crimes against the environment broadly conceived, including the study of environmental law and policy, the study of corporate crimes against the environment, and environmental justice from a criminological perspective.
The global waste trade is the international trade of waste between countries for further treatment, disposal, or recycling. Toxic or hazardous wastes are often imported by developing countries from developed countries.
The Ukrainian mafia is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating in Ukraine. Such organizations are regarded as one of the most influential types of organized crime coming out of the former USSR, including also the Russian mafia, the Georgian mafia, the Chechen mafia, the Armenian mafia and the Azerbaijani mafia. Ukrainian criminal organizations are involved in a significant number of illegal activities. Although Ukrainian criminal organizations are for the most part independently operating enterprises, they are sometimes connected with Russian mafia organizations, such as the case with Semyon Mogilevich.
The First 'Ndrangheta war was an internal struggle in the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type criminal organisation in Calabria. The conflict raged from 1974 to 1977 and resulted in approximately 233 deaths. The war broke the equilibrium in the triumvirate, made up of Antonio Macrì, Domenico Tripodo and Girolamo Piromalli, that had ruled the 'Ndrangheta for 15 years, and facilitated the rise of a new generation 'Ndranghetisti, in particular the De Stefano 'ndrina, who wanted to involve the 'Ndrangheta in new, more lucrative criminal activities.
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help)