Bari probe launched into alleged mafia waste in Puglia
(ANSA) – Bari, November 6 – Prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Bari have launched a probe into illegal toxic waste allegedly dumped in the Puglia region by the Camorra mafia in the 1990s, Bari prosecutor Pasquale Drago said on Wednesday.
Camorra mobster-turned-informer Carmine Schiavone testified in 1997 that the Naples-based criminal organization, notorious for its entanglement in the Campania region’s waste-disposal troubles, unloaded illegal waste in various sites located in the heel of Italy’s boot, near Lecce and Brindisi. The Bari probe is so far a knowledge-gathering inquiry without identified suspects or official crimes.
Investigators have created a task force to check the sites Schiavone mentioned for evidence of toxic waste and possible related health risks.
”The Lecce prosecutor Cataldo Motta is right. There is no concrete evidence of a health risk for the Puglia citizens, but we have the duty to give a sure answer on the state of health of the region,” Drago said.
Pressure to investigate mounted recently after Schiavone’s testimony was for the first time declassified and rendered public.
Schiavone is the cousin of Francesco ‘Sandokan’ Schiavone, notorious ex-boss of the Casalesi clan. The informer’s testimony helped lead to a maxi-trial that culminated in life sentences for 16 high-ranking figures of the Casalesi clan. Drago is coordinating the waste investigation with two other magistrates: anti-mafia prosecutor Teresa Iodice and illegal waste-trafficking prosecutor Renato Nitti. The field investigation will be conducted by Italian forest rangers.
(photo: illegal dumping in Sicily)