After Decades Of Death And Toxins, Italy May Finally Deal W. Mafia's Lucrative Illegal Dumping Racket
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The illegal waste dumping, often carried out in cahoots with local police and politicians, was made public by a mafia turncoat in the late 1990s, around the time the early signs of its effects started to appear: first the farm animals born with deformities, then the anomalous rise in cancer cases, especially rare forms of the disease among children. But the deeply rooted racket, which over time has had devastating repercussions on health, the environment and livelihoods, has never been adequately dealt with, whether by local, regional or national authorities.
That could be about to change. Caccioppoli was among the 41 plaintiffs who took a case against the Italian state to the European court of human rights, where judges recently ruled that despite long being aware of the issue, successive governments had failed in their duty to tackle the crisis. As a result, residents in the affected area, comprising 90 municipalities with a population of almost 3 million, had been denied their “right to life”. The Strasbourg-based court has given Italy two years to compile a strategy to resolve the issue, including setting up an independent monitoring mechanism and a public information platform.
Caccioppoli got an inkling that something was amiss in Casalnuovo when she noticed more death announcements appearing on walls in the town. “They were people in their 30s or 40s,” she said. “Then there was the funeral of a child, who I later found out had cancer. I started to hear of more and more people getting cancer.” Antonio was nine when she noticed a spasm in his leg, and after visiting several medics, he was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain cancer that most commonly affects older adults. He died in June 2013.
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The link between the higher cancer rates and pollution was finally confirmed by Italy’s higher health institute (ISS) in 2021. An ISS report in 2023 showed the death rate in the area was 9% higher than in the rest of the Campania region, with people facing a much greater risk of dying from malignant tumours and respiratory diseases.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/18/triangle-of-death-will-italy-finally-tackle-mafias-toxic-waste-dumping