Italian Police Raid Illegal Mafia Bakeries

Among other illegal activities, the Camorra mafia clan has evidently been running a string of very successful bakeries in Naples.

According to The Local, police in Naples seized more than 3 tons of bread in a raid on the mafia clan's illegal bakeries and closed at least 17 of the 1,500 bakeries being operated. Police say the illegal bakeries were unhygienic, with bread being produced among "insects and mouse droppings" and baked in wood-burning ovens that were treated with toxic varnish and not up to health standards. Police even found bakeries out in the countryside, where they were illegally operating out of stables and producing bread right next to the animals.

Illegally baking bread in backstreet bakeries in Naples is estimated to generate around $680 million a year for the Camorra mafia clan, authorities say. The loaves are supplied to street vendors who sell bread out of the trunks of cars. Some loaves even make their way into restaurants and shops in Naples.

Baker's association UNIPAN welcomed the raid, with president Mimmo Filosa saying he had been campaigning for years for the protection of "genuine Neapolitan bread" and urging police to do something about all the illegal baking going on in Naples.