Italian ministers and officials were today holding urgent consultations following the discovery of an unmarked wreck that prosecutors believe was used by the mafia to sink radioactive waste.
As a ship carrying equipment for detecting marine pollution headed for the site of the sunken vessel, an investigator said up to 41 others may have been used to dump toxic and nuclear material on the seabed.
A former top mobster said he had personally shipped other waste to Somalia and that the traffic could have led to the death of a well-known Italian reporter.
On Saturday a robot operating 480 metres below sea level sent back murky images of a wreck detected several months earlier by environmental officials.
Among other things, they showed two crushed drums protruding from the bows, which appeared to have been blown out in an explosion.
The image and the position of the ship – 11 miles off the coast at Cetraro in south-western Italy – coincided exactly with an account given to prosecutors three years ago by Francesco Fonti, a former boss of the 'Ndrangheta, the mafia of Calabria. Fonti said he and others had used explosives acquired in Holland to sink three vessels in the Mediterranean.
The one off Cetraro was carrying nuclear waste from Norway, he said. His clan had received the equivalent of almost £100,000 for disposing of it.
A prosecutor involved in two investigations in the 1990s said last weekend's discovery had "all the appearances of being a confirmation" that organised criminals had dumped waste at sea.
Nicola Pace, now chief prosecutor at Brescia, near Milan, said the inquiries had unearthed evidence of the "deliberate sinking of 42 ships with cargoes of waste, including radioactive waste", but were frustrated by an absence of tangible proof.
Bruno Giordano, the prosecutor who ordered the robot search, said: "No one can any longer maintain the ships aren't there."
But he added that he would await proof that the wreck was that of the MV Kunski, the vessel identified by Fonti.
Marine experts said the sunken ship was about 330 feet long and appeared to have been constructed 40 or 50 years ago.
Fonti told the daily Il Manifesto he believed that Ilaria Alpi, a TV journalist, and her cameraman were shot dead in 1994 because they had seen toxic waste unloaded in the Somalian port of Bosaso.
The 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia syndicate, has been accused by a former member of the gang of sinking dozens of ships loaded with toxic waste, much of it radioactive. He says a journalist and cameraman were killed to keep them from revealing the activity.

'Ndrangheta Italian mafia syndicate is centered in Calabria 
Turncoat Francesco Fonti has identified a wreck located a few months ago by environmental workers as MV ''Kunsky'' or ''Cunsky'' and says he sunk it himself in 1992, complete with 100 barrels of radioactive waste. The gang received £100,000 ($162,720) for the job.

The wreck was scoured last week by a robot, but could not be identified.  It lies 480 feet below sea level, and is about 330 to 360 feet long.  Its description and location have been found to match an old account Fonti gave authorities three years ago, and environmental detection equipment has been dispatched to the ship, images of which do show barrels in the area.

Fonti claims he blew it up with explosives from Holland and it was used to dispose of Norwegian nuclear waste. The damage seen by the team working at the site does appear consistent with this version of events. Prosecutors say it appears the issue is displaying "all the appearances of being a confirmation". Fonti says waste was disposed of for businesses across Europe.

Nicola Pace, an Italian prosecutor, said there was evidence of "deliberate sinking of 42 ships with cargoes of waste, including radioactive waste" but there has never been concrete proof. Investigators will seek more shipwrecks if the mystery vessel does indeed have a toxic cargo. Over thirty vessels are believed to be in Italian waters.

Both Fonti and environmental group Legambiente have also claimed vessels were sent to Somalia and other developing countries with toxic cargoes, which were either sunk with the ship or buried on land. Legambiente alleges that local rebel groups were given weapons in exchange for receiving the waste ships. Fonti claims that Italian TV journalist Ilaria Alpi's 1994 murder alongside her cameraman was because she had seen toxic waste arrive in Bosaso, Somalia.