Mafia blamed for 70 million litres of tainted Italian wine: report

AFP, April, 2008

ROME (AFP) — Italy produced and sold at least 70 million litres of cheap wine containing acid, manure and fertiliser, Italian weekly L'Espresso said on Friday, largely blaming organised crime in the south.

It said bottles sold at less than two euros (around three dollars) a litre contained very little wine, and a potentially deadly concoction of water and chemical substances, including hydrochloric acid.

L'Espresso said 20 companies, eight of which are in the north of Italy, were currently being investigated. In southern Italy, two companies based in Taranto and run by the local Sacra Corona Unita mafia were the main source of the bootleg beverage, the report said.

Despite a recent crackdown, many bottles of the tainted wine are still being sold, L'Espresso said, adding that it found a whole stack in a shopping centre in northeast Italy.

The agriculture ministry, which neither confirmed nor denied ...