Cetraro ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

province of Cosenza The province of Cosenza ( it, provincia di Cosenza) is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Cosenza. It contains 150 '' comuni'', listed at list of communes of the Province of Cosenza. The province o ...

in the

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region of southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Waste dumping

The

'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate and secret society, criminal society based in the peninsular and mountainous region of Calabria and dating back to the late 18th century. It is considered one of ...

, an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

mafia syndicate, has been accused by

pentito ''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...

Francesco Fonti, a former member of 'Ndrangheta, of sinking at least 30 ships loaded with toxic waste, much of it radioactive. In 2005, Fonti revealed the conspiracy in the news magazine

L'espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is ''Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, '' ...

. His statements led to widespread investigations into the radioactive waste disposal rackets, involving Giorgio Comerio and his disposal company, the Odm (Oceanic Disposal Management).Parla un boss: Così lo Stato pagava la 'ndrangheta per smaltire i rifiuti tossici
by Riccardo Bocca, L’Espresso, August 5, 2005 According to Fonti a manager of Enea paid the clan to get rid of 600 drums of toxic and radioactive waste from Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, and the US, with

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

as the destination, where the waste was buried after buying off local politicians. Former employees of Enea are suspected of paying the criminals to take waste off their hands in the 1980s and 1990s. Shipments to Somalia continued into the 1990s, while the 'Ndrangheta clan also blew up shiploads of waste, including radioactive hospital waste, and sending them to the sea bed off the Calabrian coast.From cocaine to plutonium: mafia clan accused of trafficking nuclear waste
The Guardian, October 9, 2007 Fonti revealed that he personally sank three ships and identified a wreck located 28 kilometres off the coast of Cetraro, in

, by environmental workers as MV ''Cunsky'' and says he sunk it himself in 1992, complete with 120 barrels of toxic and radioactive waste. He said 'Ndrangheta received £100,000 for the job.Mafia accused of sinking ship full of radioactive waste off Italy
by Nick Squires, The Telegraph, September 16, 2009Mafia sank boat with radioactive waste: official
, AFP, September 14, 2009Shipwreck may hold radioactive waste sunk by mafia off Italian coast
by John Hooper, The Guardian, September 16, 2009 Fonti had been put on the job by his boss

Sebastiano Romeo Sebastiano Romeo (8 January 1931 – 19 January 1998), also known as ''U Staccu'', was a historical 'Ndrangheta boss from San Luca in Calabria. His family was allied with others in the Pelle-Romeo-Vottari clan and he was a member of the Vangelo, an ...

of the 'Ndrangheta clan from

San Luca San Luca is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about east of Reggio Calabria. The town is situated on the eastern slopes of the Aspromonte ...

in collaboration with Giuseppe Giorgi. Another 'Ndrangheta boss involved was

Natale Iamonte Natale Iamonte (; 7 May 1927 – 2 February 2015), sometimes spelled as Jamonte, was an Italian criminal and a historical boss of the 'Ndrangheta. The Iamonte 'Ndrina is based in Melito di Porto Salvo and Montebello Ionico on the Ionic coast of C ...

who sank ships near

Melito di Porto Salvo Melito di Porto Salvo ( scn, label= Calabrian, Mèlitu; el, Μέλιτος or Μέλιτο (Mèlitos, label=Calabrian Greek, script=Latn or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabr ...

.Complotto sotto il mare
by Riccardo Bocca, L’Espresso, September 17, 2009 However, the vessel they surveyed off Cetraro in deep waters off the coast of Calabria turned out to be a passenger steamship sunk by a German submarine in 1917. Consequently, one of the prosecutors questioned the reliability of Fonti on the alleged sinkings, despite the fact that his collaboration with the authorities since 1994 had resulted in high-profile arrests of 'Ndrangheta members involved in drug trafficking.
Financial Times, October 30, 2009

People

Riccardo Pizzuti Riccardo Pizzuti (born 28 May 1934) is an Italian actor and stuntman. He is known for playing the role of gunfighter Morton Clayton in the 1972 film ''Man of the East''. Pizzuti appeared in '' They Call Me Trinity'', and its sequel '' Trinity Is ...

actor

References

Sources

External links

Proloco CetraroAgenda 21 Cetraro
{{authority control Cities and towns in Calabria