The Espresso Gang is guilty as Charged!

by chee Leng (on coffee makers)
(Singapore)

Some of us might be Guilty of drinking too many cups of coffee, but nobody in the wildest imaginations can link coffee to going to prison right?

Well, that is exactly what happened to an espresso gang in Naples, Italy.

In an operation nicknamed "Caffe Macchiato", Police arrested a gang suspected of selling espresso!

Bewildered? I have to read the news twice before making sense of why Police are imprisoning people for selling espresso.

It turned out that this Espresso Gang controlled numerous cafes and coffee shops and forced the all the cafes in that region to use a particular brand of coffee, and of course the sales is controlled by them.

People that does crime usually go into drugs or bootleg, it is interesting to hear coffee being associated with crime.

But this coffee crime is no small business. The bust smash a network worth 600 million Euros that includes 900 properties, 23 companies and 200 bank accounts.

My $0.02.

Why sell drugs when coffee is such big business. Simple law of economics tells you that coffee is easier to sell, and the channels are more varied and definitely barriers are much lower.

In addition, one do not have to deal with the guilt of ruining others life.

Of course, I do not condone the acts of these Mafia bosses, and I am sure they must hurt numerous people in the process.

What I am saying is, criminals these days are properly getting smarter and going for avenues that is harder to detect.

Now, is that cuppa you are drinking "clean"?:)

So, the next time someone says he or she is guilty of drinking coffee, share with them this story -they would be amazed people are actually being put into prison because of espresso!