Italian Guardia di Finanza police inspect a cocaine refining laboratory, which was raided on Wednesday, in a town on the slopes of the Vesuvius volcano south of Naples, in this still image taken from a Guardia di Finanza video, February 17, 2016.
REUTERS/GUARDIA DI FINANZA/ HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
Italian mobsters make as much money trafficking narcotics in Italy as Fiat does selling cars, but without having to pay taxes, the anti-mafia prosecutors office said on Wednesday.
Citing estimates by the United Nations Office on Narcotics and Crime, anti-mafia prosecutors said that the narcotics trade earns more than 32 billion euros ($34.70 billion) annually for organized crime, which controls Italy’s drug trade.
“It’s as if the main national carmaker together with its suppliers, service providers and dealerships paid all their salaries and suppliers, and produced everything completely off the books and without any regulation, and then sold and reinvested everything without paying any taxes,” the annual report by the anti-mafia prosecutor’s office said.
“The small difference is that the profit margin for the drug traffickers is at least 10 times higher than any industrial manufacturer.”
It said the Calabrian mafia, known as the ‘Ndrangheta, had become Europe’s top supplier of South American cocaine.
Thanks to “privileged” ties with South American criminal groups that “recognize the full trustworthiness of the Calabrian clans”, the ‘Ndrangheta has also set itself up as the main supplier of cocaine to other mafia groups in Italy, it said.
From July 2014 to June 2015, Italy seized almost 4 tonnes of cocaine, a decrease of more than 8 percent from the previous period. In the port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria, 3 tonnes of cocaine have been seized by police in the past three years.
The report was comparing earnings to Fiat in Italy, not the work of the wider Fiat Chrysler group worldwide.
($1 = 0.9221 euros)
(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Alison Williams)
Sourced From – http://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-mafia-drugs-idUSKCN0W42H3
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–A Dallas-based law firm apparently wants to get in on the opportunity to represent women harmed by Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J’s) talcum-based products.
The law firm, Baron & Budd, says it is investigating potential legal action against Hub City-based pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) regarding a possible link between its talcum-based products and ovarian cancer, according to a press release issued by the firm on the last day of February.
Talc, a mineral, is contained in J&J products including baby powder. It is imported from China, according to package labels.
The family of Jackie Fox will receive $62 million in a punishment award, plus $10 million in compensatory damages, as we reported. J&J is expected to appeal the decision.
“It is extremely disturbing that such seemingly benign products could be linked to a devastating disease,” said Russell Budd, president and managing shareholder of Baron & Budd.
“We will thoroughly investigate this matter and make sure the rights of anyone harmed by talc-based products are protected.”
“Plaintiffs in the cases are claiming that [J&J] failed for decades to warn consumers that talc-based products such as Shower to Shower and baby powder posed a risk for ovarian cancer,” says the release, citing a report from Reuters highlighting the concern that women who use talcum powder on their genitals are at a higher risk for developing the disease.
Reuters also reported that many women traditionally, “spread talcum powder in the genital areas to help eliminate vaginal odors and keep the area comfortable and cool,” reads the release.
An epidemiologist at a Cancer Center in St. Louis is quoted in the Reuters Report as saying that inflammation increases the risk of a woman developing Ovarian Cancer, and it is a known fact that talcum powder increases inflammation, according to the release.
“The Reuters article also reported that a Harvard University doctor who testified in the Missouri trial has published several studies since 1982 linking talc-based products and ovarian cancer. According to the doctor, exposure to talc can increase a woman’s risk of developing the disease by as much as 30 percent,” says the release.
In 2011, J&J responded to consumer pressure concerning two harmful chemicals used to make its famous “No More Tears” baby shampoo: formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.
J&J ultimately reformulated the product, moving to its current hypoallergenic version, which is available on store shelves around the world. It looks and smells the same as the original formula. But, according to media reports it still contains very small amounts of formaldehyde.
J&J has said it was very costly to make the change. Now other makers of look-alike, golden-hued baby shampoos, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., “Equate” label are also paraben, phthalate and quatemium 15 free.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has downplayed his connection to a reputed mob figure, whose daughter said gambled millions at Trump’s casino, partied on the billionaire mogul’s yacht and flew in his helicopter, Yahoo News reported.
However, Trump’s casino was fined $200,000 by the state of New Jersey Casino Control Commission after an investigation by the state attorney general’s office found that Trump Plaza in Atlantic City violated anti-discrimination laws to please high roller Robert LiButti — who was reported to have close ties to mafia boss John Gotti.
After the incident in 1991, Trump told the media he didn’t really know LiButti. However, LiButti’s daughter, Edith Creamer, told Yahoo News reporter Michael Isikoff that was not the case.
“He’s a liar,” Creamer told Yahoo. “Of course he knew him. I flew in the [Trump] helicopter with [Trump’s then wife] Ivana and the kids. My dad flew it up and down [to Atlantic City]. My 35th birthday party was at the Plaza and Donald was there. After the party, we went on his boat, his big yacht. I like Trump, but it pisses me off that he denies knowing my father. That hurts me.”
Trump told Yahoo News in a written response, “During the years I very successfully ran the casino business, I knew many high rollers. I assume Mr. LiButti was one of them, but I don’t recognize the name.”
The report comes as Trump is fending off calls to release his tax returns. Trump’s leading GOP opponent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, said Trump might be trying to hide evidence of mafia connections in the tax returns.
Trump was not held personally liable for the discrimination charges against his casino, nor did state officials ever question him personally about the matter.
At the time, New Jersey state regulators had launched an investigation into allegations by nine employees of one of Trump’s Atlantic City casinos, the Trump Plaza, that the hotel had repeatedly removed African-Americans and women from craps tables after LiButti, one of the highest-rolling gamblers in the city’s history, loudly complained about their presence when he was playing.
The probe resulted in a $200,000 fine against the Trump Plaza by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission for violating state anti-discrimination laws. Investigators found that LiButti had, on multiple occasions, berated blacks and women using what one state official described as the “vilest” language — including racist slurs and references to women in obscene terms — and that the Trump Plaza, in order not to lose his substantial business, sought to accommodate him by keeping the employees away from his betting tables, according to commission documents recently obtained by Yahoo News under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.
Cramer’s account of direct dealings between her father and Trump corroborate a 1991 book, “Trumped: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump, His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall,” written by John R. Donnell, former president of the Trump Plaza casino. The book also talks about a meeting between Trump and LiButti aboard Trump’s helicopter and claims Trump agreed to pay $500,000 for a racehorse named Alibi from LiButti, a horse breeder.
Sourced From – http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/03/07/report-accusations-of-trumps-ties-to-mafia-associate-gain-steam-as-candidate-withholds-taxes/
Hitman says mob planned ambush with men who had rifles and explosives
Cosa Nostra called off attack when scale of his security detail became apparent
Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York, was targeted for assassination by the Sicilian mafia during a trip to Italy in 1992, according to an imprisoned Cosa Nostra hitman.
The attack was only called off when the scale of Cuomo’s security detail became apparent, he said.
Avola said that after the assassinations of prominent anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992, Cosa Nostra bosses decided to escalate their war against the Italian state and its allies.
“The aim was to target politicians or members of institutions in order to send out a clear message,” he said, in an interview via messages carried by his lawyer.
When Cuomo’s visit to Italy was announced, Avola’s godfather, Aldo Ercolano, told him that the New York governor would be an “excellent target”.
Targeting a prominent American would also send a warning to the law enforcement agencies who had allowed several prominent mafia turncoats to start new lives in the US under assumed identities, Avola said.
“Cuomo was a symbol of America which during those years hosted collaborators who wanted out of Cosa Nostra and then got their bosses arrested. His death would have sent a strong signal to New York. It would have made them understand what happens to those who stand in the Mafia’s way,” he said.
Cuomo arrived in Rome on 19 November 1992 for a week of meetings. Soon after his arrival, a journalist from Corriere della Sera asked whether having an Italian surname was damaging for an American politician.
Cuomo replied: “Of course, any Italian American politician risks being associated with the mafia, not least because the media continuously plays on this image.”
Meanwhile, according to Avola a much more immediate risk was taking shape in the city of Messina, where a mafia hit squad was planning a daylight attack on Cuomo in the main square.
Around a dozen gunmen armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and explosives were to carry out the ambush, while accomplices were ready to block potential escape routes, said Avola.
But just a few days before Cuomo was due in Messina, Ercolano called off the attack.
“The American politician arrived with extremely tight surveillance, lots of bodyguards and a bulletproof car. It made the execution impossible,” Avola said. “Reluctantly, Aldo Ercolano ordered the ‘men of honour’ to withdraw.’’
Born in Catania in 1962, Avola is believed to have killed about 80 people, including journalists, lawyers, politicians and mobsters, before becoming apentito, or informer.
Known as “Occhi di Ghiaccio” or Ice Eyes because of his cold-blooded blue gaze, he was recruited as a hitman by the Santapaola family, one of the most feared and powerful in the Sicilian criminal underworld.
He was arrested on a tip-off in 1993, the day after killing a former friend and fellow mafioso. Avola concluded that he had been betrayed by his boss, and a year later, he decided to cooperate with police, revealing details that led to the opening of new investigations and the arrest of more than 100 ‘men of honour’.
Just a few days before Cuomo was due in Messina, the attack was called off.
He is currently serving a life sentence for his murders and 40 armed robberies in a special prison for mafia informers in northern Italy – but will be freed in 2019 because of his cooperation with authorities. For security reasons, the Guardian is not naming the prison where he is being held.
A senior source at Palermo magistrate’s court confirmed that an investigation into Avola’s allegations of a plot to kill Cuomo was still open, but said that details of the case were confidential.
Avola’s lawyer, Ugo Colonna, said that his client’s allegations may help shed some light on the history of that period of Cosa Nostra.
“Understanding why the mafia wanted to eliminate the governor of New York, in 1992, could also help us to understand the violence of the bosses who, in those years, were waging a real war against the state,” he said.
Ignazio De Francisci, a Palermo prosecutor who worked alongside Falcone and Borsellino, said that in the early 1990s, mafia bosses had already spread their actions beyond Sicily.
Two Muslim women who said they were forced to attend Christian services at a county jail in Cleveland while being held there have settled federal lawsuits with county officials, according to settlement agreements released Wednesday.
They show Cuyahoga County paid $48,500 to Sakeena Majeed and $32,500 to Sonya Abderrazzaq.
The women, who served sentences for misdemeanor convictions, alleged in separate lawsuits that they were required to attend religious services led by a Baptist minister while they were housed in a trustee pod at the jail. They also said they were harangued for not actively participating.
Attorneys for the women said the practice has been stopped.
Abderrazzaq’s attorney, Raymond Vasvari, said he hopes the county recognizes that conditions of an inmate’s confinement can’t be contingent on religious beliefs.
“Hopefully, going forward, the practices identified in these cases are a thing of the past,” he said.
Majeed’s attorney, Matthew Besser, said the case was about stopping the government from telling people “which God to pray to, or whether to pray at all.”
“Sakeena wanted to bring this practice to light, and to stop it from happening to anyone else,” Besser said.
A Cuyahoga County spokeswoman said the settlements aren’t an admission of liability but are an exercise in risk management.
Majeed, of suburban Rocky River, had been jailed after pleading guilty to assault. She was arrested on her lunch hour on July 18, 2013, after getting into a confrontation with a police officer who had stopped her for jaywalking, her attorney said.
Abderrazzaq had been jailed after pleading guilty in March 2014 in Parma Municipal Court on a charge of operating a vehicle while under the influence.
