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?

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at hhorn at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Heather Horn

Sources

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

Presented By

Topics: Wall Street

Related Articles				More by Heather Horn
Hedge Funders Don't Understand Hyenas	Were Banks 'Complicit' in Madoff Fraud? Madoff Says So	TARP Won't Cost Much, but Taxpayers Still Hate It		Vanessa Grigoriadis: What I Read	What the World Makes of Rick Perry