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The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world. Click on the headlines for more.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL:

CNN: House Republicans scrap direct vote on Senate payroll tax plan

Republicans on the House rules committee have voted to prevent a direct vote Tuesday on a Senate plan favored by Democrats and Senate Republicans to extend the payroll tax cut for two months.

CNN: House to vote Tuesday on Senate payroll tax plan

House Republican leaders put off until Tuesday a vote on a Senate plan to extend the payroll tax cut and said they were willing to work until the end of the year to negotiate a compromise with Senate Democrats.

CNN Money: Congress = Uncertainty Inc.

House Republicans say the two-month payroll tax cut extension passed overwhelmingly by the Senate would inject uncertainty into the economy.

CNN: CNN Poll: Gingrich lead gone, dead even with Romney

Newt Gingrich's lead in the race for the GOP presidential nomination has evaporated, according to a new national survey.

NATIONAL:

CNN: Hearing continues in Wikileaks court martial case

The military court hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning continues Tuesday, a day after witnesses gave explosive testimony about the Army private accused of leaking more than a quarter of a million classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.

CNN: Blizzard pounds West, Midwest

Interstates and highways were shut down Monday night as a large winter weather system brought heavy snow, fierce winds and ice to at least five states in the West and Midwest.

CNN: Justice Department says a Conn. police department targeted Latinos

In a scathing report, the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday accused the East Haven Police Department (EHPD) in Connecticut of engaging in a pattern of widespread discrimination against Latinos in violation of the Constitution and federal law.

CNN: Two Muslim religious leaders sue airlines for discrimination

Two Islamic religious leaders from Tennessee filed a lawsuit against two airlines Monday, claiming they were discriminated against and not allowed to fly on a plane in May because of the way they looked.

INTERNATIONAL:

CNN: North Korea: Should we fear change?

North Korea's government was famously accused in 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction, along with fellow "axis of evil" countries, Iran and Iraq.

CNN: U.S. supports plan to relocate terror group

The Obama administration "welcomes" a United Nations-led effort in Iraq to relocate a group on the State Department terrorism list, before an end-of-the-year deadline that could see heavy violence and a large humanitarian disaster unfold, senior administration officials said Monday.

CNN: Arrest warrant issued for Iraqi vice president

An Iraqi investigative committee issued an arrest warrant Monday for the country's vice president, who is accused of orchestrating bombing attacks against government and security officials.

CNN: Protesters battle for control of Egypt's Tahrir Square

Police and military troops clashed Monday with protesters in Egypt's Tahrir Square, the symbolic center of the uprising that brought down President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.

BUSINESS:

CNN Money: What's really behind Twitter's staff exodus

Twitter's transformation from startup to power player has hit its rocky adolescent stage. In the past six months, more than a dozen high-level employees have departed. The sudden exodus set Silicon Valley chattering: What's going on at Twitter?

CNN Money: AT&T kills $39 billion bid for T-Mobile

Facing heavy resistance from the U.S. government to its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile, AT&T on Monday officially killed off the deal that would have created by far the nation's largest wireless company.

CNN Money: Stocks sell off as banks tank

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Monday as bank shares took a beating amid fresh concerns about the debt crisis in Europe.

In Case You Missed It…

Henry Kissinger does not view North Korea as a major threat when it comes to sustaining a full-scale long term war.

While the mafia has long been associated with Italy’s poorer southern regions and Sicily, there is now strong evidence to suggest that the tentacles of organized crime in Italy have well and truly penetrated Italy’s economic powerhouse – Milan. 

This penetration has occurred slowly and silently, but has not gone unnoticed.

Writer of mafia expose Gomorrah, Roberto Saviano claimed that the evidence of the mafia moving north was there for all to see, but he was told that he did not know what he was talking about by people who should have known better.  I myself wrote about the mafia moving north earlier this year.

Yesterday, Italian newspaper and website Il Fatto Quotidiano carried an article on mafia arrests in Milan and another northern stronghold, Brescia.  It was believed that these two major northern Italian population centers were impervious to mafia penetration.  Well, there were not as recent arrests show.

Milan prosecutor Ilda Boccassini was involved in setting up a recent swoop which netted, amongst others, a supposed anti-mafia magistrate based in Calabria.  This magistrate, one Vincenzo Giglio, is suspected of feeding information to a Milan based ‘ndrangheta mafia group know as the Valle clan.

Also rounded up in the swoop were Vincenzo Minasi, a lawyer and Francesco Morelli, an elected member of the Calabrian regional government.  Morelli, it happens, was elected thanks to a Berlusconi-PdL party list.  Obviously Berlusconi did not pay too much attention to who belonged to his party.  Maybe he knew, maybe he did not.

At the bottom of the list of those arrested was Luigi Mongelli, a member of Italy’s financial police the Guardia di Finanza no less.  Mongelli was probably responsible for keeping inquisitive eyes away from the tax affairs of the mafia operations.

Italy’s mafia, or rather “mafias” have become extremely sophisticated and know exactly who to recruit in order to keep their illicit activities out of the limelight.

Unholy Alliances

While links between politicians and organized crime are nothing new in Italy, there seems to be no sign of any reduction in the number of these unholy alliances.  The reason why the mafia befriends politicians or installs its own in positions of power are to enable it to make money on public works contracts and on refuse dumping.  Both areas are extremely profitable for organized crime and both are damaging Italy.

Rubber Stamping

Buildings or roads constructed by mafia nominated contractors are not subject to the health and safety controls such works would normally face owing to mafia friends in local government and relevant government departments tuning a blind eye – permissions and approvals are automatically rubber stamped.  Nobody in Italy really knows how many buildings or roads have been built with sub-standard materials or workmanship owing to mafia control.  Unfortunately, it is only when problems arise, such as when buildings collapse that the truth comes to light.  Seeing as these are public works contracts, the buildings which might collapse could well be schools or university buildings.

Illegal Waste

Then there is the dumping of illegal waste.  Disposing of toxic waste costs money, but mafia run enterprises only charge around 50% of what the normal regulated market requests.  Unscrupulous businessmen and others desperate to keep their businesses afloat in poor economic times find savings on refuse disposal too appetizing to resist.  Only the toxic waste is not disposed of safely.  Oh no.  Instead it is dumped just about anywhere it can be hidden, or semi-official dumps are set up with the assistance of corrupt politicians and officials.  Such dumps are given the go ahead by corrupt officials who simply write reports saying everything is OK.  More automatic rubber stamping.

Protection Money

Disposing of waste and infiltrating public works are not the only way organized crime is making a quick million or three in Italy’s north.

Milan’s mayor Giuliano Pisapia, in an article which appeared in the Corriere Della Sera in late September 2011, claimed that around 6,000 businesses in Milan were paying the “pizzo”.  No relation to pizza, the pizzo is basically protection money.  Either you pay up or something bad will happen to your business, your family or you.

It is now crystal clear: the mafia has gained a firm foothold in Milan.  There is no denying it.  Roberto Saviano was right.

This post originally appeared at Italy Chronicles.

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