Officials dub city garbage scavengers a mafia for controlling a lucrative business, allegedly linked to crime. Sergio Rodriguez out of his central station shantytown to scavenge. He and his kin dodge cops and rival gangs to steal and recycle the best trash in town before refuse collectors, contracted to recycle trash, cart it away and dump all but a fraction.
Authorities turn a blind eye to the whole thing.
Zigzagging across the street they open bags, pluck out cans, newspapers and food, retie them, toss the goods in a cart, then move off to the next bag. Making a mess could cost Rodriguez his beat. The crew stops only to munch croissants and slurp some semi-frozen ice cream found in a dumpster outside a swish cafe. From Rodriguez's cardboard, wood and corrugated-iron shack in the Villa 31 shantytown, he has a view of Recoleta's towers just train tracks and a road away. That neighborhood is Buenos Aires'swankiest and his family's prime scavenging ground.