Organized crime's involvement in toxic waste disposal represents an extension of its traditional activity in garage disposal. This new service provided by organized crime coincided not only with a substantial increase in the amount of waste produced, but also with the passage of State and Federal legislation making disposal cumbersome and expensive. Evading the legislation enabled illegal haulers and disposal site operators to earn huge profits. In addition, when the waste haulers tied to organized crime moved into the business of toxic waste disposal, they brought attitudes with potentially long-term, detrimental consequences for significant portions of the population. State regulatory and enforcement agencies are poorly equipped to control the illegal practices. Therefore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must assume additional responsibility. However, political and philosophic forces, especially in recent years, have resulted in little activity by that agency to control the problem of illegal waste disposal. 34 references. (Author abstract modified)