Information from undercover investigations, hearings, taped conversations, confessions, and suppressed official reports documents organized crime’s involvement in illegal toxic waste dumping and the ineffectiveness of government agencies responsible for regulating toxic waste disposal.
Abstract
A historic review chronicles organized crime’s domination of the solid waste disposal industry in the Northeast and the illegal tactics used to eliminate competition and fix prices. The expansion of organized crime into toxic waste disposal is then detailed, with particular attention to the practice of dumping such wastes in areas not legally designated as toxic waste dump sites. Case studies of the consequences of such dumping are presented. Also described are the efforts of a few law enforcement officials to counter illegal toxic waste disposal and expose the payoffs, bribes, political favors, and collusion between organized crime, industry, and the government that hindered a concerted effort to stop illegal toxic waste dumping. Although much of the book focuses on illegal toxic waste dumping in the New York-New Jersey region, evidence of the same pattern in other States is also presented. The halting and sometimes obstructionist efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Carter and Reagan administrations regarding the regulation of toxic waste dumping are discussed. 56 references and a subject index.