The triangle of death (Italian: Triangolo della morte) is an area approximately 25 km northeast of the city of Naples in the Province of Naples, Campania, Italy, that comprises the comuni of Acerra, Nola and Marigliano. This area contains the largest illegal waste dump in Europe due to a waste management crisis in the 1990s and 2000s. The region has experienced a rise in cancer-related mortality that is linked to exposure of pollution from the illegal waste disposal by the Camorra criminal organization after regional landfills had been filled to capacity. The phenomenon of widespread environmental crime perpetrated by criminal syndicates like the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta has given rise to the term "ecomafia".
Etymology The term "triangle of death" was first used with regard to the region in a September 2004 scientific publication in the Lancet Oncology.
Overview An estimated 550,000 people live in the triangle of death. The annual death rate per 100,000 inhabitants from liver cancer is approximately 38.4 for men and 20.8 for women in this area, as compared to the national average of 14. The death rate for bladder cancer and cancer of the central nervous system was also higher than the national average. The high death rates from cancers pointed towards the presence of illegal and improper hazardous waste disposal by various organized crime groups including the Camorra. The 2004 Lancet Oncology article noted, "Today, the difference between lawful management of waste and illegal manipulation with regard to their compliance with health regulations is very narrow, and the health risks are rising... The 5000 illegal or uncontrolled landfill sites in Italy drew particular criticism; Italy has already been warned twice for flouting the Hazardous Waste Directive and the Landfill Directive, and the EU has now referred Italy to the European Court of Justice for further action." The report was met with criticism by the National Research Council, dismissing the methods used by Senior and Mazza as biased. Despite this, it sparked the first interest and concern into this matter, and has become the most cited source of evidence throughout the crisis. Though some media outlets report France and Germany as waste sources, the EU has remained silent as to the sources of the waste in its criticism and demands of Italy. In January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy has violated the right to life of 2.9 million citizens living in the Triangle. The court found that Italian authorities had known about the pollution problem since 1988 but failed to address it and had not done what was necessary to protect residents' lives.
Illegal toxic waste dumping By February 1994, several regional landfills in Campania had become overfilled, and Prime Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi declared a state of emergency and created the Committee for the Waste Emergency in Campania (Commissariato di Governo per l'emergenza rifiuti in Campania). By December 1999, all regional landfills had reached capacity. Reports in 2008 stated that the crisis was caused at least in part by the Camorra, the powerful Campania-based mafia, which created a lucrative business in the municipal waste disposal sector, mostly in the triangle of death. With the complicity of industrial companies, the illegal dumpers frequently mix heavy metals, industrial waste, and chemicals and household waste together, and then dump them near roads and burn them to avoid detection, leading to severe soil and air pollution. According to Giacomo D'Alisa et al., "the situation worsened during this period as the Camorra diversified their illegal waste disposal strategy: 1) transporting and dumping hazardous waste in the countryside by truck; 2) dumping waste in illegal caves or holes; 3) mixing toxic waste with textiles to avoid explosions and then burning it; and 4) mixing toxic with urban waste for disposal in landfills and incinerators." A Camorra member, Nunzio Perella, was arrested in 1992, and began collaborating with authorities; he had stated "the rubbish is gold." The boss of the Casalesi clan, Gaetano Vassallo, admitted to systematically working for 20 years to bribe local politicians and officials to gain their acquiescence to dumping toxic waste. Giorgio Napolitano, then President of the Italian Republic, said in June 2008:
It is certain, not only to citizens but to the government as well, that the systematic transfer of toxic waste from industries in Northern Italy to Campania was committed by the Camorra.
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