“When the mafia … developed throughout Europe, especially in Germany, its structure changed and became more recognisable,” Massaro said. That swells to thousands more when including those worldwide, although estimates are unreliable. In many parts of Calabria, it has infiltrated practically all areas of public life, from city hall and hospitals to cemeteries and even the courts, experts say.Īuthorities believe there are some 150 ‘Ndrangheta families in Calabria and at least 6,000 members and affiliates in the region. The ‘Ndrangheta has expanded beyond its traditional domains of drug trafficking and loan sharking, now using shell companies and frontmen to reinvest illegal gains in the legitimate economy. However, she did not expect things to change in this “historical moment” in southern Italy amid the coronavirus pandemic, because those with economic difficulties were likely to turn to organised crime for support. “Potentially, you are uncovering a Pandora’s box so striking that it could have an effect on the consciousness of the people living in those lands.”
#Activedock trial trial
“Up to now, it has been difficult to get them on trial as the logic of collaboration from insiders has effective – within the family you tend to protect. “The Ndrangheta, compared to Cosa Nostra, is founded on a tight family network,” Massaro said. In Italy, so-called ‘maxi-trials,’ which include scores of defendants and countless charges, are seen as the best judicial resource against the country’s various organised crime groups Īntonella Massaro, a professor of criminal law at the University of Rome 3, told Al Jazeera the trial was “very important” and could help prize open the secretive ‘Ndrangheta syndicate. The current trial, expected to last at least a year and likely longer, features 355 defendants, more than 900 prosecution witnesses, and an unprecedented number of collaborators, given the close family ties within the ‘Ndrangheta that discourage turncoats. The most famous maxi-trial of 1986-87 dealt a significant blow to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, resulting in 338 guilty verdicts, but prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were later assassinated by the mob. In Italy, so-called “maxi-trials”, which include scores of defendants and countless charges, are seen as the best judicial resource against the country’s various organised crime groups, of which the ‘Ndrangheta is now considered the most powerful, controlling the bulk of cocaine flowing into Europe. The trial “is a cornerstone in the building of a wall against the mafias in Italy”, anti-mob prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told the AFP news agency. Prosecutors are seeking to prove a web of crimes dating back to the 1990s, including murder, drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering and abuse of office.
“If you want to open a shop, if you want to build anything, you have to go through them.” “The real strength of these mafia families is they have control of the territory and within the territory they do everything,” said Varese. More than 350 alleged members of the mafia and politicians, lawyers, businessmen and others accused of enabling them will face a judge in a huge, specially converted courtroom in the southern Calabrian town of Lamezia Terme, in the heart of ‘Ndrangheta territory.Ĭriminologist Federico Varese of Oxford University said the trial reflects the wide-reaching control of the ‘Ndrangheta, who are embedded in the community and involved in every legal and illicit activity. Italy’s largest mafia trial in more than 30 years begins Wednesday, as prosecutors hope to strike a blow to the ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate, whose tentacles reach worldwide.
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