Editing Giuseppe Piromalli (born 1945) (section)

==Controlling the Gioia Tauro port==
The [[Piromalli 'ndrina]] managed to condition the management of the new [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_terminal container terminal] in the port of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioia_Tauro Gioia Tauro]. Established in the mid-1990s, it became the largest terminal in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean Mediterranean], moving over 2 million containers in 1998. Since 1994, when [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contship_Containerlines Contship Italia] rented the port area to start transhipment activity and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Medcenter_Container_Terminal&action=edit&redlink=1 Medcenter Container Terminal] was set up thanks to 138 billion lire (about US$86 million) in state financing, the Piromalli’s aimed to oblige the Medcenter company, through its vice president [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walter_Lugli&action=edit&redlink=1 Walter Lugli], and the Contship company, through its president [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Enrico_Ravano&action=edit&redlink=1 Enrico Ravano], to pay a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickback_%28bribery%29 kickback] of US$1.50 for each transhipped container, a sum which corresponded to about half the net profits earned by the two companies.

Additionally, the Piromalli’s desired contracts, subcontracts, and jobs in the two firms that run the port, as well as from other companies in the surrounding area. Despite subscribing to an anti corruption pact with the government, the managers of both Contship and Medcenter gave in to the demands. The arrest warrant issued in January 1999 against members of the Piromalli group stated that the two companies contracted firms indicated by the defendants (and in some cases belonging to the latter) in the port-servicing activities and hired people recommended by the Piromalli clan, reinforcing the latter’s power in the Gioia Tauro plain.”