Toxic Waste Dumping

[OLOL]

http://www.espressonline.it/eol/free/jsp/detail.jsp?m1s=null&m2s=a&idCategory=4791&idContent=971132

 

One Boss talks:

Thus, the state has been paying the Ndreghetta, to dispose the toxic waste.

 

Condemned for drug trafficking, he collaborated with the AntiMafia. Thought to be reliable, now he has delivered to the judges a memorandum. An explosive one!

 

Ricardo Bocca.

 

From June 2004, L’esspresso has published a series of long articles in regards to the International trafficking of toxic and radioactive waste. It is an investigation that had its first journey on the Rosso Case.

It is about the motor-vessels that had been going around the Calabria coast in 1990s that is today at the center of this investigation done by Attorney of power, Paula.

 

Following this, the inquiry of our newspaper encompasses the entire incident of the so-called ' Vessels of the see', the ships that between years Eighty and Ninety would have been sunk voluntarily with their toxic and nuclear cargo aboard. Transactions of ecological dimensions that have been investigated by the attorneys of Reggio Calabria, and that would have involved dozens of political and foreign affairs agents, intelligence agencies and manufacturers, freemasons, criminals.

 

A case marked by the mysterious death of Captain Natale Degrazie, a key adviser to the inquirers, as well as the traces of secret exchanges between Italy and Somalia in the different stages of the cooperation regarding the cause of the killings of journalists Ilaria the Alps and Miran Hrovatin.

 

Now, L’esspresso has come to acquaintance of a new document, a long and detailed memorandum written by the former head of ‘Ndreghetta’(see the table), kept here anonymous for security reasons who is already collaborating with authorities for past crimes, and serving now a thirty years sentence for criminal association of international drug trafficking.

 

With the direction of the national Antimafia, he delivered pages in the first person about episodes he lived through where he revealed the illegal sinking of ships carrying radioactive materials and shifting to other ships carrying international arms trafficking with the convergence of men from the government and intelligence agencies. These documents will be looked through in full details by the Magistrate who for a long time was working at related fronts to confirm and re-evaluate the accountability of the involved individuals.

 

Above all, all the sites have to be verified with a careful attention whether in Italy or not, where the author of the memorandum says are buried the barrels of the toxic and radioactive waste. This is a course of action L’esspresso will follow progressively in the hope of revealing the truth to those effected by these criminal incidents.

 

The first head of the ‘ndreghetta†who understood the importance and profitability of the international business of toxic and radioactive waste was Giuseppe Nirta. He was responsible of the territory of San Luca and Mammasantissima, that is the highest rank of the organization. He had contacts with individuals of the secret service, freemasons, and politicians in Rome. This is how the memorandum delivered by the former head of the Ndreghettta to the Antimafia begins with.

 

In which he precisely says “then, I had no direct relations with the highest ranking bosses of the San Luca family, which I was affiliated with. My role was only to manage racketeering. Nirta was a distant cousin of my mother, because of this; I had a preferential treatment with him. He so often assured me that the business of this hazardous waste would bring a lot of money into our cause.â€

 

With the help of the minister

 

 

“In particular†it reads “Nirta explained to me that it has been proposed to him by the defense minister, Lelio Lagorio, with whom he had a relationship through the undersecretary of transportation, Nello Vincelli and the honorable MP, Vito Napoli, to stack barrels of toxic waste and hide it designated zones in Calabria.†He also informed me that the Napolitan Camorra (Naples racket) and the Sicilian Mafia has been already consulted with disposal of the toxic waste and that they have given their approval.†The thing however, writes the former boss “it didn’t advance immediately; there were series of meetings in the following months which were carried in the open near the sanctuary of Polsi, on the mountains of San Luca, where also the annual meeting of the Ndreghetta was held. At the meeting were represented by all the crime families: for the family of Melito Porto Salvo in the person of Giuseppino Barbaro, for the family of Sinopoli in the person of Domenico Alvaro, for the family of Gioiosa Marina in the person of Salvatore Aquino and naturally of San Luca family in the person of Giuseppe Nirta. It was the same Nirta who informed me of the particulars, because it had been decided that I would have had to take care of the organizational aspect of the family of San Luca, and therefore I had to know of the more important structures and transactionsâ€

“from these reunions†writes the Ex Boss “the meeting didn’t come up with a common front, there were divergent opinions, because they didn’t want hazardous substances buried in Aspromente, a territory loved by the bosses and at the same time, it was the area where they held and hide those kidnapped by the Ndreghetta. At the end, it was decided to discuss the great business of toxic hazardous waste with the agreement that every family would have managed the activities in the mutual respect but for the own facts but for the right reasons. So it was attempted to find sites outside of Calabria, or a foreign country, and at the end, the choice fell on as far as Italy, on the Basilicata, because it was a land of no one from the point of view of gangsters. And when it comes to the foreign country, the Turkish Mafia was contacted for the acquisition and purchase of heroine, and the person we had as a point of reference was Mehmet Serdar Alpan, who is also the financier of Lupi Griggi. From this point on, my bosses initiated to keep I informed constantly of how the situation was evolving. My first direct engagement in the field of the toxic hazardous waste started at the end of 1986, even though the operation had a prologue in the spring of 1983â€

It was then ", explains the Ex-boss in his memorandum, that he has been sent to Rome by Sabstiano Romeo, who in previous months succeeded Nirta as the head of Santa Luca Family. He wanted me to meet the lawyer, Giorgio De Stefano, cousin of Paolo De Stefano, boss of the Reggina Family, a man with so many political links. Romeo has said to me he would indicate me which foreign countries that would fit the disposal of the radioactive and toxic waste. De Stefano told that the ideal place would be Somalia, specifying for this reason, it would be useful to have high contact within the Socialist party. After which, through lawyer De Stefano, I had an appointment in Rome with Pietro Bearzi, then general secretary of the Chamber of Commerce for the Somalia. We met in a hotel behind Via Cristoforo Colombo, where I explicitly said that we had selected Somalia for the disposal of toxic and radioactive waste, and then we asked him if he was in position to help us. With some disturbance, I have generically told him that he would be paid with generosity. He told me his availability and asked at what level we were moving and I have vaguely answered that we have the necessary political reference or backing.â€

 

The Sixteen Hundred Barrels in Basilicata.

 

“He left us saying to that there would be detailed reviews†continues the Ex Boss. “Therefore I reported to all the particulars to Sebastiano Romeo, who only said to me ‘all is going well, we don’t make things in haste’ adding as he loves to say a proverb: ‘the cat that is hurry gives birth to blind offspring’ In regards to these questions, we didn’t occupy ourselves with it until at the end of October of 1986, when I was living in Reggio Emilia to manage the drug trafficking for the San Luca Family in Emilia Romagna and Lombardia. In this context, I was doing business with Musitano di Plati family whose head was Domenico, known as ‘the fascist for his dictatorial tendency’, for he was free to wait the process but for an ordinance decree was not able to reside in Calabria, the reason why he had transferred to Nova Siri, in the province of Matera. He asked of a meeting†it says “that there are 600 barrels containing toxic and radioactive waste, asking me if I and my family are interested in the different faces of transportation and placement. First of all, I asked him how much we will earn and who has shown some prospect in this job. He explained to us that he has been approached by Tommaso Candelieri dell'Enea di Rotondella (Italian Energy and Gas Company) who for a certain period was stacking toxic waste from Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany and United States and at the precise moment was required to make sure these stalks deposited in two hangars owned by the same Enea disappear. And as far as money is concerned, I would have pocketed 660 million for all that is made of the operation, for this, I met in Milan, at Loreto square ,Giuseppe Romeo, brother of Sebastiano, who came from Calabria for reference, after a week he returned to Milan to give me the go aheadâ€

“For a support†explains the Ex boss of the ndreghetta, “Musitano gave me the availability of the son-in-law, Giuseppe Arcadi, who helped me to find the trucks and the drivers for the transportation of the toxic waste. We calculated that for 600 containers there would be needed approximately 40 months, in which they have to withdraw all the barrels from the hangars of Rotondella, and to load them on a ship that would have left for Somalia. It seemed everything was ready ", he writes," but Musitano was killed by ' ndrangheta in front of the court of Reggio Calabria, where he was convened for an audience. This( Musitano’s killing) stopped our job momentarily, then but it resumed in January of 1987, because the same Musitano shortly before dying had introduced me Candelieri, with whom I had straightened the first agreements in the course of an encounter at house of the same Musitano ".

 

From Mogadiscio to Livorno

 

“The ship that we used for the operation ", continues the memorandum," was called Lynx, was of property of the society Fyord Tanker Shipping of Malta and the broker was Fin-Chart, who had his central office in Rome and was tied to the Swiss society Achair & Partners. Both were head of the society Zuana Achire that had it central office in Singapore and whose administrator was the Indonesian citizen, Gurda Ceso. Precisely†the former ex boss writes," the Lynx ship had been rented from the society with center to Opera Jelly Wax, of Renato Pent, to whom I had asked a cover after he had been referred to me by the general secretary of the Italian-Somali Chamber of Commerce, Peter Bearzi. The fact is that, according to our calculations, in storage would have been only 500 containers; therefore to assess was to dispose the other 100. It was therefore that we decided to proceed with a two planes: 500 containers would be leaving for Somalia, while the remaining 100 would have been hidden in Basilicata. For accuracy, I gave order that it had to be transported and buried in the community of Pisticci, in the locality of Coasts of the Cretagna, along the bank of the Vella River ". I participated directly in the operation, that was carried out between the 10 and the 11 of January 1987", tells the ex boss. “ We left with the 40 truckloads to Rotondella, around two at night and an hour later we arrived, around seven or eight at the Vella river, where a big hole had been predisposed and was filled up with the barrels and then covered up. To prepare the trench had been the machinery put in disposition by Augustin Ferrara, man of Musitano that lived in Nova Sirta, who also secured the light in order to illuminate the area. In the same hours, the other trucks proceeded for the port of Livorno, where the Lynx was waiting for them and after finishing the job in Bisilicata, I came on board with my Lancia Thema with Giuseppe Arcadi. The invoices with false descriptions in order to embark toxic and radioactive waste had been prepared by a Milan businessman, who had been introduced to me by businessman, Vito Roberto Palazzolo di Terrasini (today fugitive), and they were registered to the office International consulting of Djibouti. The ship in fact left directly from Livorno for Djibouti, instead of docking there, it reached Mogadiscio. At the point in action was the assistance that I had asked the general secretary for the Italian-Somali Chamber of Commerce, who had organized trucks and labor for the unloading of the ship and the cargo onto trucks. “The toxic waste†it reads, “had been taken to the dead Shebelle river outlet, where they have been buried for good and best by the available excavation machinery on place, in agreement with the head of the tribe of the zone Musa Sudi Yalahow ". The entire job, tells the ex boss, “cost us about 260 million that was added to the compensation. As far as the 600 million agreed, it came from the encrypted account “whisky†of the Italian Switzerland bank of Lucern. Marino Ganzerla, of the foreign affairs office, had given me an appointment in the same Lucern on February 1st and he paid me cash on behalf of Candelieri. He delivered the money to me in dollars, and I sent 500 million Liras to the family of San Luca ".

 

Uranium, Kalashnikov and Corruption

 

“The operation ", continues the memorandum," was spun smooth. All were satisfied, for some years later (in the meantime I have been in jail) we repeated the job. This time I was to contact Candelieri. November of the 1992 I asked him always on behalf of the family of San Luca if there were transactions to carry out.

I went personally in his office at the Enea di Rotondella and his answer was that in this field there was always plenty of work. In this case, it referred to the transportation of thousands of containers of toxic and radioactive waste. It specified that there were oozing and hospital waste and that was product of oxides of uranium, cesium and strontium, all contained in barrels that in time had been arranged in 20 containers, 25 meters long and 6 meters wide each, property of the Merzario Maritime society, that above all, on behalf of the Somali authorities, controlled the entry of the ships in the new port of Mogadishu. In order to organize all ", writes the ex-boss," I contacted Mirko Martini, whom I have known since late 1992. His name had been given to me by Giuseppe Romeo, brother of the boss, Sebastiano, who had known him personally and he had guaranteed me that he is the right person for our transactions. Precisely that Martini who was foreign affairs man with nobility title who lived in Piacenza and also had a residence in Mogadishu, where he was in business with Omar Mugne, holder of the Shifco, ownership society of the ships that the Italian government had given to the Somali government. During an evening meal in the Hilton hotel of Milan ", he continues," I have explained to the same Martini that I had to transport hazardous waste in Somalia and I need some help at the port. he has answered saying to me of being literally of intimate ' of the interim president of the Somalia Ali Mahdi, let alone being a man of the Italian intelligence agencies and connected at a good level with the American CIA', adding that when it comes to Somalia, it is not a problem to do anything there at all. Moreover, he has explained to me that he already had in action trafficking of weapons that had to arrive in Mogadiscio on behalf of Ali Mahdi, and he has asked me to secure those weapons in order to have only one expedition with two ships he would have recovered himself ". The fishing boats in question ", explains the ex boss," were the Mohamuud Harbi and the Osman Raghe, both of property of the Shifco, that in turn were part of the Mahdi Group Company. The weapons were 75 cases of Kalashnikov, 25 ammunition cases and 30 of Uzi machine guns, that were loaded in Ukraine from the factory Ukrespets Export on board of the Jadran Express ship with Maltese flag, rented on my behalf by lawyer Pasquale Ciola di Ostuni and his friend Pasquale Locatelli, who had a partnership company in Gibraltar, Cyprus and in Croatia which they called River Plata Limited and Business investment company. The Jadran ", he tells," docked in Trieste, where the weapons were loaded on two trucks and transferred to the port of La Spezia, a place in which they were transferred then inside a port hangar in order to reload them on the Mohamuud Harbi. In the meantime, Martini transmitted 375 million Liras to the Ukrespets Export making one transaction through the Kreditna Banka of Trieste. Instead I was at the same time busy with organizing the trafficking of the toxic and radioactive waste. The Merzario Maritime has supplied, other than the containers, also 20 trucks, that they have loaded the waste near the centers of Enea of the Garigliano, where Candelieri was to supervise the operations. After that the waste arrived at the port of Livorno and has been loaded on the Osman Raghe. The ships Mohamuud Harbi and Osman Raghe left from Italy contemporaneously and arrived in the new port of Mogadishu the first days of February 1993. “ there ", it reads," were waiting men and tools put at disposition by Moroccan Giancarlo, beloved friend of Mirko Martini, who at that moment was more powerful in Somalia, where he utilized trucks held in a warehouse at the kilometer fourth at the road to the airport. At that point the weapons were brought to Ali Mahdi’s general neighborhood, while the wastes were transferred to various points. A quarter of the waste has been buried in kilometer 150 of the road between Berbera and Sillil, in the coastal zone of the Bosaso. Another quarter has been carried to the outlet of the Webi Jubba River, neighboring the border with the Kenya. Another fourth again has been buried in the tiny strips at road between Dhurbo and Ceel Gaal, in the Bosaso, and the last quarter has been buried under the Garoe-Bosaso road, to kilometer 37,700".

 

The operation ", comments the former boss of ' ndrangheta,†has been carried out once again without problems and has seen various payments. The contact Abdoullahi Yussuf, for of availability of territory, has wanted 1 billion 200 million Liras, that were paid to him by Candelieri in Switzerland at the Credit Suisse di Lugano, where I personally accompanied him to the bank. I have taken 8 billions 800 million cash from Candelieri, that I have withdrawn from the Hellenic Bank di Sarajevo. Of these, 350 million went to Mirko Martini, 300 I have spent in varied organizations, 200 million served to pay the transport of the ships, while to Morochini I made him have 400 million through Marino Ganzerla. At the end, I celebrated the good outcome with various members of the Romeo family renting entirely a small restaurant ' Piccolo padre' in Milan, near the public square, Cinque giornate ".

[Haddad]

If you have translated the article; job well done. Learning about what has gone behind the scenes of this ugly affair is really shocking. It appears it is not simple as how I have imagined, but involves an intricate web of corrupt politicians, hungry businessmen, the mafia and other dark entities. I worry about the long term effects those wastes will have on Somalis and their environment for many generations to come.

 

I am not aware of any Somali body/association/organization that's coordinating at least materials, documentations and etc that shed light on what has happened, what investigations are undergoing, what the people need to do about the waste, how they can safeguard themselves from possible future dumpings and etc.

 

It doesn't take a lot of efforts/resources to setup a site/forum, form an association/organization that cares about this issue. I believe at least a dozen of young Somalis can take on the task.

[OLOL]

Yes Haddad, I did translate this and I am still working on the last paragraphs. It is not as easy as I thought and I don't have that much time because of school and work. But it is still a great exercise and it just helps me to revive my lost and forgotten Italian.

 

I have lived and studied in Italy for about 3 years and even before leaving for Italy, I studied Italian at the Italian Cultural center ( Cultura Italiana vicino a Radio Mogadiscio e Scoula Nasser )in Mogadiscio, then at Gaheyr, SNU ( Universita` Nazionale Somala)

 

 

There are global environmental networks and some conscious Somalis who are at their best making an effort to expose this toxic dumping in Somalia and other parts of the poor third world and make sure that people are aware of it.

 

However, we are doomed forever as a nation as long as we persistently continue to perpetuate the primitive clannish creed of our nomadic forefathers. We are led by self-interested callous warlords who have no idea of what it takes to found and build a modern viable nation that could guarantee its citizens a stable and prosperous future and can compete with the modern world in terms of economics and growth. Unfortunately, we all support these criminals because of tribalism.

[Haddad]

Originally posted by OLOL:

...even before leaving for Italy, I studied Italian at the Italian Cultural center ( Cultura Italiana vicino a Radio Mogadiscio e Scoula Nasser )in Mogadiscio...

A coincidence; I have also studied at the Italian Cultural center. I remember one of my teachers was named Osman (last name Maye?), the other who was Italian was named Paola (if memory serves me right). I also lived in Italy for a number of years. Visiting Italian news sites (like La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, etc) helps me keep somewhat sharp what I know about the Italian language (at least in terms of reading & writing).

[STOIC]

Environmental degradation in Somalia caused by human greed and selfishness has come to the notice of the Somalis recently while all along this has been going on for quite sometime(as i understood it from OLOL presentation).It is only about the last few years we started realizing that the self inflicted danger is really turning in to a far-reaching disaster that endangers the lives of the people.We know that the country is already polluted and that it needs an urgent attention.To enable us to tackle this castrophe we have to find out how this was caused,who are responsible,and how to remedy the situation to protect the time bomb awaiting to explode.We all must gauge the situation physically and morally and try to resolve it honestly without pointing fingers or protecting any one.Today what Somalia is facing is environmental emergency.Environmental emergency is a sudden threat to the public health, or the well being of the environment, arising from the release of harzardous chemical or radioactive waste.I am not going to touch on any political issue since my Somali politics is limited.I would love to see the new or any Somali government to investigate and bring to justice this eco-mafias.The government shall investigate:

-The amount of hazardous waste disposed

-the degree of toxicity of hazardous waste

-the degree of involvement of individuals or parties in generation, transportation, and disposal of the hazardous waste.

 

 

***OLOL can you provide me with any investigative source of this eco-mafia case in English, thanks***

[OLOL]

Yes, Stoic, this is an environmental catastrophe that will have an unimaginable consequences on people’s life but I am shocked of your naiveté here.....what government you want to investigate this? Isn’t the current Somali government led by the same warlords, who were paid by the Mafia, to provide the dumping ground for the nuclear waste?

[STOIC]

OLOL, i think i made it clear that the reason i am uncritical on the current government is because of my inexperienced in Somali politics.I made it clear that we are not at a position to finger point at the moment with the country sitting on the brink of environmental disaster.If we want to solve the problem, the first step will be to remedy the problem before we got to the generators of the waste.The negative environmental impact exarcebated the plight of already fragile environment.I think it will be of great importance for the good of the citizen to first solve the environmental problem and then may be bring to justice these eco mafias.The current situation of Somalia where principle is trade off with tribalism will not bring any justice any time soon but we can stop the spread of any major life threatening environmental emergency.I think what any Somali government need to do is to address any major environmental and human health concern before we can court marshall everyone in the government.It will take a time before any backed solid proof will be brought against this eco mafias turning the claimant nothing more than an empty loud vessels.