A maxi-trial was opened on Wednesday in southern Italy against the crime syndicate ‘ndrangheta, arguably the richest criminal organization in the world that quietly accumulated power in Italy when the Sicilian mafia lost its influence.
The hearing against more than 300 defendants began in a specially built bunker on the extensive site of an industrial park in Calabria, the “toe” of the Italian peninsula.
Prosecutors hope the trial will be a decisive blow to ‘ndrangheta, the Calabria-based mafia organization that exploited tens of billions of dollars in cocaine prescriptions to extend its criminal reach across Europe and across continents.
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A ceiling-mounted screen shows participants after the first hearing of a maxi-trial against more than 300 defendants from the ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate in a specially built bunker near the Calabrian town of Lamezia Terme, southern Italy, Wednesday, 13 January, 2021. (AP Photo / Gianfranco Stara)
Anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told reporters on Wednesday that the trial was a turning point, showing where the ‘ndrangheta is being called for her crimes and being brought to justice.
“Decades ago, people were shaking when talking about Cosa Nostra or using the word ‘ndrangheta, something they would say only in a hidden room, around the fireplace, whispering,” he said. “Today we are starting to speak in the open sun.
“In the past two years, we can say that we have seen an increase in complaints from businessmen, intimidated citizens, victims of usury, people who for years have been subjected to the shroud of the ‘ndrangheta,” he said.
Researchers say that ‘ndrangheta has established bases in much of western, northern and central Europe, Australia, North and South America and is also active in Africa.
The trial stemmed from the investigation of 12 clans linked to a convicted ‘ndrangheta chief. That figure is Luigi Mancuso, who served 19 years in Italian prison cells for his role in leading what investigators claim to be one of the ndrangheta’s most powerful criminal families, based in the city of Vibo Valentia.
Carabinieri police officers wearing masks to contain the spread of COVID-19 are inside a bunker specially built for the first hearing of a maximum trial against more than 300 defendants from the ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate, near the Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme, in southern Italy , Wednesday, January 13, 2021. (AP Photo / Gianfranco Stara)
The prosecution indicated that it expects to call more than 900 witnesses and that the trial should last at least one year.
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Among the charges being considered by the court are drug and arms trafficking, extortion and mafia association, a term used in the Italian penal code for members of organized crime groups. Others are accused of complicity with the ‘ndrangheta without actually being members.
About 325 defendants were sentenced to trial in Lamezia Terme, while about 90 other defendants in the investigation opted for a quick trial, which begins later this month in Calabria. In yet another consequence of the same investigation, a trial involving five murders begins in February elsewhere in Calabria.
The Lamezia Terme bunker is so vast that several video screens were fixed to the ceiling so that the participants could better see the procedures. There is a sea of rows of tables for around 600 lawyers to work with microphones and chairs securely spaced to comply with the COVID-19 health rules.
While the numbers are impressive, this week’s trial is not Italy’s biggest one against mobsters. In 1986, in Palermo, in a similarly built bunker, 475 alleged members of Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia, went on trial. This trial, which resulted in more than 300 convictions and brought 19 life sentences, helped to reveal many of the brutal methods and murderous strategies of the main mafia bosses on the island, including sensational killings that bloodied the Palermo area during years of fighting for power.
Financial officers wearing masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 stand guard during the first hearing of a maximum trial against more than 300 defendants from the ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate, outside a specially built bunker near the southern Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme from Italy, Wednesday, January 13, 2021. (AP Photo / Andrea Rosa)
In contrast, this trial against the ‘ndrangheta aims, in large part, to obtain convictions for alleged collusion between mobsters and local politicians, civil servants, businessmen and members of secret stores, an indication of how rooted the union is in the territory.
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Based almost entirely on blood ties, the ‘ndrangheta for decades has been largely immune to traitors. But its ranks are starting to become more substantial. Among those who presented evidence of the state at the Lamezia Terme trial was a relative of Mancuso. Several dozen informants in the case come from the ‘ndrangheta, but others are from the old ranks of Cosa Nostra in Sicily and can be called to testify.
Inundated with receipts from cocaine trafficking, the ‘ndrangheta swallowed hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, car dealerships and other businesses across Italy, especially in Rome and the affluent north, criminal investigations have revealed.
The shopping spree in recent years has spread strongly across Europe, as ‘ndrangheta sought to launder illicit recipes, but also to make’ ‘clean’ money by running legitimate businesses, including in the tourism and hospitality sectors, according to investigators. .