Italy cracks down on mafia ring behind toxic China-made shoes
- 10 in detention, five under house arrest for allegedly sending contaminated plastic sheeting overseas to be made into footwear
- Syndicate was led by mobster Claudio Carbonaro, who police say was behind ‘over 60 murders’ in the 1980s and 90s
Italian detectives have dismantled a mafia plastic-recycling ring headed by a murderous mobster, which sent toxic materials to China to make shoes that were then sold in Italy, police said on Thursday.
Officers threw 10 people into pretrial detention in jail, placed five more under house arrest, and seized five companies in Sicily after uncovering the racket in used plastic sheeting contaminated with fertilisers and pesticides.
Those arrested are accused variously of extortion, possessing illegal weapons, grievous bodily harm and waste trafficking.
The ring was led by Claudio Carbonaro, a gangster who was “responsible for atrocious crimes in the 1980s and 90s, including over 60 murders”, police said.
After turning police witness, Carbonaro returned in 2013 to Sicily where he took over a historic mafia clan and launched the extremely lucrative trafficking in contaminated plastics.
