“Garbage is Gold:" Ilegal Waste Hauling in Organized Crime

 Faye Gilbert 

When we hear the term “organized crime,” we are conditioned to think of its most notorious. We might think back to Prohibition—of Al Capone and his multi-million-dollar criminal empire—or to El Chapo and the Mexican cartel, with its smuggling, turf wars, and murder. There is a reason we think of these people and groups: we know of them for their infamy. Cruelty of that level is often intriguing enough to make its way to the headlines.

What is not so intriguing is trash. More specifically, the organized and illegal dumping of waste. This realm of organized crime is not lesser known for a lack of guile. In fact, its under the radar status could be attributed to it. Nor is it lesser known for its lack of cruelty. It is equally ridden with smuggling and turf wars and murder, just in a much less direct theatric manner.

The smuggling of an old mattress, for example, from the home of some penny-pincher to Oakland, California is far less exciting than that of cocaine across national borders. The same could be said for a land dispute in Virginia between a shady farm owner and suspicious local residents. As much as we’d be hesitant to admit it, we could even say the same of the deaths caused by the slow to develop cancers, rare diseases, and miscarriages caused by the contaminants from the illegal burning of waste in Naples, Italy. 

Perhaps this is why this phenomenon has been coined terms like “Midnight Dumping” and “Fly Tipping.” These names have a little bit of intrigue to them, at least. They could suffice as titles for a spooky bedtime story, or a children’s book if written well enough—although I doubt it’d sell. 

Those of us that are lucky enough can treat stories such as these with the same disregard as we do waste itself: Out of sight, out of mind. There is a cultural mindset surrounding waste, mainly within wealthy, well-kept, and high consuming areas, that allows them to be so continually ignored. We are privileged enough to instantly and seemingly permanently remove things that serve us no purpose, bring us discomfort, or are just simply unpleasant to look at. Disposal seems somewhat infinite and without consequence when we are not burdened by the presence or repercussions of what we discard. However, it is not in reality. Waste and risk are never eliminated, only displaced. We have the wealth to assure that our space is not where things unwanted go, but many people don’t. 

 Consider, again, Naples—one of the poorest regions of Italy. Since the 1980s, the surrounding region of Campania has been the center of an illegal waste dumping crisis fueled, in part, by the local mafia organization known as the Camorra. This group originally turned to waste hauling following a local earthquake to leverage off of the need to dispose of hazardous and toxic materials from its aftermath.

 It was clever of them to do so. Often, disposing of toxic waste is incredibly expensive. In Italy, the cost of disposing of toxic waste is typically around 21 to 62 cents/kg, or 24 to 71 cents/kg in US dollars. The Camorra’s rates for doing so translate to only 10 or 12 cents/kg in US dollars. This was a far cheaper and thus, more appealing option in the desperation following the earthquake, and it continues to be that for the various private businesses and companies who utilize the services still today. It was also a safer shift from the Camorra’s former primary source of income, narcotics. In the words of a former Camorra boss, waste hauling “pays more and the risk is less.” He says, “for us, garbage is gold” (Deitche). In 2013, illegal hauling of toxic waste generated 16.3 billion euros in profit for organized crime groups in Italy (Deitche). 

Due to the success of their operation, enormous amounts of garbage have since been dumped throughout the countryside. There is such a surplus of waste that much of it is burned with incinerators, as well. This has terrible health implications for locals. This area, between Naples and neighboring Caserta, is commonly referred to as the “Triangle of Death” due to the resulting environmental contamination and rampant illness. The US navy performed a study that demonstrated that living in the area for just three years would expose people to terrible health risks.

While it seems separate from us, both in distance and conceptually, we are not without fault in this story. Much of the waste hauled to this area in the first place in from wealthy areas looking to be rid of it. In Campania, it comes specifically from places such as Northern Italy and Europe. However, there are similar wealth and space disparities that have the same repercussions in the US. The amount of illegally discarded waste in Oakland, California, for example has “increased sixfold since 2015” according to data reported in the New York Times (Karlamangla). 

Crises such as these are easy to ignore, and that's why they are able to drag on for so long and, in turn, cause so much harm. We must recognize, however, that our tendency to look away, to give our attention to topics more interesting or seemingly closer to home is a privilege—one that many people don’t have. 

Works Cited

“Coping with Naples’ Toxic Waste Crisis.” Earth Island Journal, www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/coping_with_naples_toxic_waste_crisis/##.

Deitche, Scott. “The Camorra and the Garbage Racket in the “Land of Fires.”” The Mob Museum, 23 Mar. 2020, themobmuseum.org/blog/the-camorra-and-the-garbage-racket-in-the-land-of-fires/.

Soumya Karlamangla, and Ian C Bates. “Oakland, California, Residents Are Fed up with Illegal Dumping.” The New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/us/oakland-california-trash-garbage.html.