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ROME (Reuters) - Italy's mafia crime syndicates bucked the recession in 2009 to raise 'profits' by almost 8 percent with the financial crisis making companies and even the stock market even more vulnerable to cash-flush mobsters....
MOB "SHOPPING SPREE"
It estimated the mob's joint turnover last year at 135 billion euros, topped by trafficking in drugs, people, weapons and contraband worth just under 68 billion euros. Second came "business" interests like public contracts, gambling, forgeries and supplying illegal labor at 25 billion euros, then extortion and loan sharking at 25 billion euros.
Robbery and fraud represented just 1 billion euros of the total business and prostitution brought in 600 million, said SOS Impresa. The mob laid out 1.17 billion in wages and 2.75 billion on corrupting officials, invested 26 billion and laundered an estimated 19.5 billion, the researchers said.
Total "profits" ran to an estimated 78 billion euros,
Who does their accounting? A step up from Wall street, at least they don't ask for bailouts.
Interesting story you tell yourself. That might make a cute novel someday.
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