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'Mob Sewage' Closes Capri's Blue Grotto

By Mary Papenfuss, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 27, 2009 2:53 AM CDT

(Newser) – The famous Blue Grotto of the Italian island of Capri has been closed after its striking cerulean waters were fouled by raw sewage believed to be dumped by the Mafia, reports the Independent. La Grotta Azzurra, a favorite haunt of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, is celebrated for its striking waters and the silvery shimmer of cave rocks. Two men have been busted following following reports that they pumped 5,000 gallons of cesspool sewage into the grotto to avoid paying disposal fees.

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Carabinieri paramilitary police inspect sewage dumped in Capri's Blue Grotto. (AP Photo/Franco Castano)

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Structural problems, lack of infrastructure, a sewage system that is incomplete: this is a situation which encourages the infiltration of criminal gangs. - Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 5 comments

jagerhans

Aug 29, 2009 10:52 AM CDT

if you want to see something really hearthbreaking you need to watch the documentary movie "terra bruciata" (scorched ground) about the spoiling of the south by the eco-mafia business of criminal waste disposal , it is something it's hard to watch without crying. also one can watch the movie 'gomorra' for a not-so-fictional account of what is going on in our disgraceful country. only one small corner of our disgraces cause as a carachter said in the movie 'la meglio gioventù' ( youth of great expectations ) «Italy is a beautiful but useless country which is doomed to die» . and as O. Wilde said, 'Misfortunes one can endure--they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one's own faults--ah!--there is the sting of life.' remember our spaghetti, mafia, mandolini, fascism and loathsome ambiguity when we'll join the dead civilizations.

jagerhans

Aug 27, 2009 11:22 AM CDT

why morons ? our domestic (yet censored) italian media reported the same news. and this IS another major shame, like the garbage flood in Naples that was never solved but the berlusconi-driven media say it was, like the reconstruction after the earthquake in l'Aquila which will mean: building masses of 'newtowns' around the medieval city that is doomed to remain a pile of ruins forever ('cause it's a more profitable business building dormitories in the desert than renovating the city) but encircled by ugly buildings, like the orgies of sex, whores and drugs of our prime minister covered like a secret services'affaire, like the racial laws, like all that tsunami-wave of shit always rising here in Italy, the land of the shameless. are you a berlusconi supporter ?

fancygapva

Aug 27, 2009 11:16 AM CDT

Why was this offensive? It's just about geography.

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Independent (UK) (Source Grid »)

World • Crime & Courts

tourism • Italy • Naples • mob • Mafia • sewage • waste disposal management • Blue Grotto • cesspool • Capri

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