Al Qaeda, Mafia In Cahoots?

New American Media is reporting that as many as 5,000 al Qaeda operatives are slipping into Europe through Naples with the help of the Neopolitan Camorra, the local version of the Mafia.

According to Italian investigative sources, the Camorra could help Al Qaeda obtain forged documents and weapons for its operatives, who disembark almost daily from ships connecting Italy to the Arab countries of North Africa. In addition, in exchange for substantial cargoes of narcotics, these operatives are moved through Camorra's connections from Naples to Rome, Bologna, Milan and eventually to other major European cities such as Paris, London, Berlin and Madrid.

"The connections are there and real," says Michele del Prete, a district attorney investigating the Algerian Islamic Brotherhood in Italy, "and the exchange currency cementing those trades is drugs."

That al Qaeda would use drugs to further their goals is no surprise; there are frequent reports from Iraq that al Qaeda's soldiers are high when they launch high-risk missions.

It is surprising that Camorra's working with them, but then, it's obvious that greed trumps reason with these guys. What's scary is that the mafia controls docks all along the east coast -- and what's to stop them from selling out to al Qaeda too?