I have only just discovered this thread - the posting that I have made in "Holy Buckets may have been more apposite here!

But the "crap" part of "crappola" is generally thought to derive from a Mr Henry Crapper, who did not invent the water closet, but did produce the first reasonably practical one that was capable of being produced in quantity and fitted into existing houses without undue problems.
(Actually, that's not entirely true - the early W/Cs had all sorts of sanitary problems until a certain amount of expertise in fitting them and connecting them to the sewerage had been acquired - but that's another story - - -)