MAFIA TRIAL TO OPEN WITH 350 IN THE DOCK IN SOUTHERN ITALY

The biggest mafia trial in more than 30 years will begin Wednesday when more than 350 alleged mobsters and their collaborators face justice in a huge, purpose-built courtroom in southern Italy. On trial will be members of the 'Ndrangheta, a network of clans based in Calabria, in the toe of the Italian boot. It is regarded as the most powerful of Italy's mafia organizations, having surpassed the more famous Cosa Nostra of Sicily. “It's the most dangerous and it is present in every continent,” said Nicola Gratteri, pictured, a leading prosecutor in the trial who has lived under police protection for 30 years. “And it is the richest because it has a virtual monopoly on the importation of cocaine into Europe,” he said, while guarded by three plainclothes police officers.