Who says crime doesnt pay?!!!

Is this why I am paying $20 for an F-car Washer?

By Flavia Krause-Jackson
Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Revenue raked in by Italy’s mob
surged 40 percent last year, turning crime into the nation’s
No.1 business, Eurispes said in its annual report.
Sales increased to 130 billion euros ($167 billion), up
from 90 billion euros in 2007, according to figures supplied by
Eurispes and SOS Impresa, an association of businessmen to
protest against extortion. Drug trafficking remains the primary
source of revenue, bringing in about 59 billion euros, and they
earned 5.8 billion euros from selling arms, the Rome-based
research group said today.
“During a crisis, people lower their guard,” Roberto
Saviano, who wrote the bestseller “Gomorrah” about the Camorra
crime bosses, said in an interview. “Studies show the criminal
market never suffers during a crisis. I’m convinced that this
crisis is bringing huge advantages to criminal syndicates.”
Organized crime groups siphon 92 billion euros, about 6
percent of Italy’s gross domestic product, from Italian
businesses a year through protection payments, usurious interest
rates on loans and other forms of extortion, Eurispes estimates.
That works out to 250 million euros a day and 10 million euros
an hour, Eurispes said.

Tide Turning?

There are signs that the tide could turn against the mob. A
year ago, Confindustria took its strongest stance against
organized crime in its 98-year history, announcing that any
members found to have paid the Sicilian Cosa Nostra an extortion
payment, known as the “pizzo,” would be expelled. Still, when
the new rule was announced, only five members of the association
admitted having received mob threats.
The country’s main criminal syndicates are the Mafia in
Sicily, the Camorra based around Naples and the ‘Ndrangheta that
operates from Calabria, the region located at Italy’s toe.
Eurispes estimates that the Italian authorities confiscated
5.2 billion euros in assets from the groups last year. The
Camorra had 2.9 billion euros seized, the report says. The
Sicilian Mafia had 1.4 billion euros sequestered and
Ndrangheta, 231 million euros, Eurispes said.