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What are you, some kind of wise guy? Fans of "The Sopranos" know that while Tony Soprano excels at extortion, his real job (according to his tax return, anyway) is "waste management consultant." This is a case of art imitating life, as the mafia and the garbage business go back a long way. To determine the relationship's origin, some undercover research was in order. You better not be wearing a wire... The mob ran the garbage business in many big cities. As Kenneth J. Prendergast notes in this in-depth article, Cleveland, Ohio, was among the most notorious. Thanks to new technologies, the business of garbage hauling boomed in the 1950s and 60s, when the mob was "at its peak."
Organized crime targeted the trash business because it was a great way to launder profits from illegal businesses, and it gave Mafioso (like Tony Soprano) legit jobs for tax purposes. New York City's garbage business was also once largely under mob control. "The Hidden Life of Garbage" explains how that changed in the mid-90s, when businesses like Waste Management and Browning Ferris entered the fray. Their lower prices and a government investigation led by undercover cop Rick Cowan pushed out the mob. We were surprised to learn the marriage of mafia and garbage
isn't just an American institution -- the two commingle in Italy as well. More frightening, the mafia is now moving into the toxic waste industry. It's all about diversification, folks.
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