The credit crisis has made Italian banks less willing to give out loans. Desperate for cash, many Italian businesses are starting to turn to the Mafia for financing. Washington Post Foreign Correspondent Mary Jordan explains what this means for the Mafia and what happens to the debtors when a loan payment is due. You can read Ms. Jordan’s article on mafia financing here
Guests:
Mary Jordan
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Comments [2]
I hate to say it, but after learning about what Hank Paulson did as Treasury Secretary (1. his secret "amendment" for the banks of Section 382 of the tax code, and 2. apparently giving US taxpayers only 60 cents for every TARP dollar invested when big investors like Warren Buffett were given $1.25 for every dollar, which he then flat-out lied about to the oversight committee) it's unfortunately too easy to imagine that the mafia would be more ethical than what we already have.
The organization N'Dragnetta (read about them in a book Rogue Economics) is known for laundering South American drug money into Euros (its harder to launder in dollars due to the Patriot Act)
Are they also involved in lending?
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