Mafia Kills through Cancer: Causal Evidence from the Land of Fires

Sergio Beraldo, Michela Collaro (), Fabio Leone, Immacolata Marino and Domenico Suppa ()
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Michela Collaro: University of Naples Federico II
Fabio Leone: University of Naples Federico II
Immacolata Marino: University of Naples Federico II and CSEF, https://csef.it/people/immacolata-marino/
Domenico Suppa: University Giustino Fortunato

CSEF Working Papers from Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy

Abstract: This paper provides the first causal evidence that mafia-managed illegal waste disposal increases cancer mortality. We study the Land of Fires in Campania, southern Italy, where Camorra clans entered the waste-disposal market by offering firms low-cost illegal disposal of hazardous industrial waste. This criminal business model transferred the private gains from regulatory evasion to local communities through environmental exposure. Using a municipality-year panel covering all 550 Campanian municipalities from 1982 to 2023, we estimate the long-run effect of exposure on cancer mortality. To address the endogenous location of illegal dumping, we define treatment using the predetermined disposal geography described by former clan member Carmine Schiavone. A difference-in-differences design with municipality fixed effects, province-by-year fixed effects, and time-varying controls shows that exposed municipalities experienced a post- 2000 increase in cancer mortality of 0.17–0.19 deaths per 1,000 residents, about 7.5–8.5 percent of the sample mean. Event-study estimates show no differential pre-trends and indicate that the effect emerges with delay. Placebo corridors and alternative contamination-based treatments do not reproduce the result. The findings identify population health as a channel through which organized crime affects welfare.

Keywords: Environmental crime; Cancer mortality; Illegal waste disposal; Organized crime (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 P35 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01-02, Revised 2026-07-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
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