Agnon, Inc. / Agnon Refining Corp.

Agnon, Inc., was founded in 1979 by Paul Traficante in Pompano Beach, Florida. Eventually they were shut down due to repeated environmental infractions.

Dates of Operation: 1979 - 1988(?)
Known Bar Sizes:
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HISTORY

Agnon, Inc., a company founded in 1979 by Paul Traficante of Chicago, was initially located in a bay at George King Jr’s Pompano Beach industrial warehouse complex in Pompano Beach, Florida. The company processed X-rays and other film using sodium cyanide to recover silver. In 1980, Traficante received two citations for pollution, one for dumping sodium cyanide and caustic soda into a storm drain and the other for emitting too much hydrogen cyanide gas into neighboring businesses. In 1985, the company was bought by Steve Shapiro and Harold Grayson, who changed the name to Agnon Refining Corp.

During the year and a half that they owned the company, they received six more citations for illegal disposal of cyanide and other hazardous waste into storm drains. Repeated cyanide spills at the warehouse resulted in evacuations and hospitalization of 5 people, and extremely high levels of cyanide in the warehouse walls, ground soil, and storm drains. As a result of these violations, the State Department of Environmental Regulations issued a notice of violation to Shapiro as Agnon’s president and director, King as the land owner, and Traficante as the former president. Ultimately, Agnon was forced to shut down permanently.

Historical research provided by Christopher Fleming.