Locating bases in poor crime-ridden areas entwines the military with organized crime

Evidence

Locating bases in poor and marginalized areas like Naples, ridden with organized crime, is part of the same pattern. U.S. officials have assumed that the promise of jobs and money will help secure a long-term presence free of protest or dissent. This has indeed largely been the case in Naples, as the Navy, over the course of more than sixty years, has embedded itself in the regional political economy. The Camorra, of course, is even more deeply embedded in the local political economy, leading the two organizations to become increasingly entwined over the years. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 373

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: a pattern-based analysis of how military base siting in economically marginalized areas predictably produces criminal entanglement, applicable across Naples, Okinawa, and elsewhere.