Italy to begin ‘maxi-trial’ against ’ndrangheta crime organisation
A“maxi-trial” is opening in southern Italy against the ’ndrangheta crime syndicate, arguably the world's richest criminal organisation that quietly amassed power in Italy as the Sicilian Mafia lost its influence.
Prosecutors are hoping the trial will be a decisive blow for the ’ndrangheta, the Calabrianbased mob organisation that has exploited tens of billions of dollars in cocaine revenues to extend its criminal reach across Europe and into several continents.
The hearing against more than 300 defendants is opening in a specially constructed bunker on the sprawling grounds of an industrial park in Calabria, the "toe" of the Italian peninsula.
The ’ndrangheta "has almost a monopoly on cocaine importation in Europe", prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told reporters in Rome this week.
Investigators say the ’ndrangheta has established bases in much of western, northern and central Europe, Australia,
North and South America and is active as well in Africa.
The trial grew out of the investigation of 12 clans linked to a convicted 'ndrangheta boss.
That figure is Luigi Mancuso, who served 19 years in Italian prison cells for his role in leading what investigators allege is one of the ’ndrangheta's most powerful crime families, based in the town of Vibo Valentia.
Among the various accusations being considered by the court are drug and arms trafficking, extortion and Mafia association, a term used in Italy's penal code for members of organised crime groups.
Others are charged with complicity with the ’ndrangheta without actually being a member.
Some 325 defendants were ordered to be tried in the Lamezia Terme, while some 90 more defendants in the investigation chose to have a fast-track trial, which begins later this month in Calabria.
In yet another outgrowth of the same probe, a trial involving five murders, begins in February elsewhere in Calabria.
The Lamezia Terme bunker is so vast, a score of video screens
has been anchored to the ceiling so participants can better view the proceedings.
There is a sea of rows of tables for some 600 lawyers to work, with microphones and chairs safely distanced to respect Covid-19 health rules.
The trial against the ’ndrangheta is in large part aimed at gaining convictions for alleged connivance among mobsters and local politicians, public officials, businessmen and
members of secret lodges in an indication of how rooted the syndicate is in the territory.
Based almost entirely on blood ties, the 'ndrangheta for decades was practically immune to turncoats. But their ranks are starting to become more substantial.
Among those turning state's evidence in the Lamezia Terme trial was a relative of Mancuso.
Several dozen informants in the case come from the 'ndrangheta, but others are from the
former ranks of Cosa Nostra in Sicily. The trial is expected to last at least a year.
The prosecution has indicated to the court that it hopes to call more than 900 witnesses.
Awash in cocaine trafficking revenues, the ’ndrangheta has gobbled up hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, car dealerships and other businesses throughout Italy, especially in Rome and the affluent north, criminal investigations have revealed.