Two quick points up front:
1. Olive oil prices are coming back down but that won't mean much to the criminals.
2. The history of the mob was agricultural.
From The Telegraph, April 13:
Producers forced to beef up security as criminals steal lorry loads of commodity
Police are hunting five masked men who forced a lorry driver off the road in southern Italy before detaining him at gunpoint and making off with his highly-prized cargo.
The paramilitary operation in the Italian region of Puglia, best known for its Baroque treasures, slow food and breathtaking coastline, happened earlier this month and shocked the country.
But there were no priceless artworks, jewels or drugs on board the lorry – only crates of fresh olive oil worth an estimated £260,000.
This latest robbery highlights the alarming penetration of organised crime into the production of one of Italy’s biggest agricultural exports.
With olive oil now fetching up to €15 (£13) a litre, mafia gangs are targeting what’s known as “green gold”.
In a region that produces 40 per cent of the nation’s olive oil, producers are taking drastic measures to protect their olives at every stage of the production process.
‘Olives have to be guarded like diamonds at night’
Coldiretti, the country’s largest farmers’ organisation, is urging its member to use helicopter surveillance, mount GPS tracking devices on olive oil tanks and demand police escorts to move the finished product across the region.Pietro Piccioni, the director of Coldiretti’s branch in Bari, said: “During the harvesting period, marauders across the countryside raid the olives that have to be guarded like diamonds at night and escorted during transfers to the olive mills.
“Then the oil mills are forced to notify the police before letting trucks of extra virgin oil leave.”
Leonardo Palmisano, a sociologist and mafia expert, said: “Puglian mafia organisations are hiring specialised international criminals to carry out these attacks.
“It is at such a high level that they send thieves from other parts of Europe, like they do with car robberies, and then they immediately move the stolen oil into the market for bottling and distribution.
“Olive oil can be stolen and sold for half the price, and sometimes the robberies are even commissioned by mafia-run businesses masquerading as legitimate companies.”
But criminal gangs are also plundering Puglia’s olive groves at source. Using sledgehammers to assault the trees, gang members can steal more than 30kg (65lb) of olives per tree in just a few minutes.
The gangs drag nets under the olive trees as accomplices beat the branches to collect as many of the falling olives as possible, often causing irreparable damage....
....MUCH MORE
Previously:
May 2012
The Sicilian Mafia and the International Lemon Cartel
February 2019
"Sicily’s mafia sprang from the growing global market for lemons – a tale with sour parallels for consumers today"
February 2020
Strange Mafia Histories: New York Bans Artichokes
A Very New York Story: "How New York’s Bagel Union Fought — and Beat — a Mafia Takeover"
April 25, 2023
Uh Oh: Drought Hits Both Spanish And Italian Olive Crops
This is going to lead to one of two things (I mean beyond the fact that people won't be able to afford basic sustenance). Either the Mafia gets into the "let's adulterate the olive oil" biz or a reprise of the Great Salad Oil Swindle of 1963....
***
....we should probably be on the lookout for funny-smelling oil-and-lemon juice salad dressings.
The worst of the adulterations was probably the one in Spain in 1981 when contaminated rapeseed oil was sold as olive oil with horrific results.
On the oil scam, Global Financial Data did a nice write-up in 2013:
The Fiftieth Anniversary of JFK and the Great Salad Oil Swindle
Although the scandal led to the bankruptcy of a major broker-dealer: "In Re Ira Haupt & Co., 234 F. Supp. 167 (S.D.N.Y. 1964)" it did allow Warren Buffett to pick up some American Express on the cheap. He got a five-banger out of it.
