Good Question!

Did the Mafia Save the Banks?

Heather Horn 130 Views Dec 14, 2009

Banks and bankers have had plenty of opprobrium heaped on them by haters. But Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, has a new, more chilling accusation: banks were saved by money from organized crime. As the Guardian reports, "the proceeds of organised crime were 'the only liquid investment capital' available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn ... of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result."

That makes Alex Knapp at Outside the Beltway wonder: "Did organized crime save the banking system?" Do we have drug lords, instead of Tim Geithner and TARP, to thank for the continued survival of Wall Street?

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Heather Horn

Sources

Did Organized Crime Save the Banking System?, Alex Knapp, Outside the Beltway

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Topics: Wall Street

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