Largest Anti-Mafia Trial in Three Decades Takes on Calabria’s ‘Ndrangheta Family
Nicola Gratteri is the lead prosecutor in the anti-mafia trial. (Flickr)
Italian courts began a series of expedited trials for suspected members of the organized crime group ‘Ndrangheta on November 6. With seventy Mafiosi already convicted and 355 still left to be tried, the so-called maxi trial marks the largest anti-Mafia movement in Italy since the 1980s.
The criminal proceedings are based in Lamezia Terme, a Calabrese city, in a bunker built specifically for the occasion. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and the distribution of defendants in prisons around the country, the trials will also take place remotely over Zoom. The trials respond to the growing online presence of ‘Ndrangheta, which has allied with Cosa Nostra and Sacra Corona Unita (SCU), two other Mafia families, to create an online gambling ring.
The unification of these three families despite past rivalries marks a distinct shift in the terrain of Italian organized crime. Federico Cafiero de Raho, head of the anti-mafia unit in Italy, stated, “the 'Ndrangheta and the mafias of Sicily and Puglia [Apulia] no longer exist. They are now fluid organizations that manage different businesses between them.”
Despite increasing cooperation with other families, ‘Ndrangheta remains separated due to its wealth and secrecy. In contrast to the widening membership of Cosa Nostra, Camorra, and SCU, ‘Ndrangheta is still based largely on blood ties, granting the gang increased distance from the limelight. Only 15 percent of witnesses in recent years come from the ‘Ndrangheta family, despite its affiliates numbering more than 6,000 in Italy alone, with thousands of others around the world.
Formed in the nineteenth century, ‘Ndrangheta reached international fame in 1973 by kidnapping John Paul Getty III in exchange for a $3 million settlement from the Getty family. The family has since departed from abduction and focused its efforts more on gambling and drug trafficking, controlling up to 80 percent of the European cocaine trade and outsourcing its sales to other crime groups. ‘Ndrangheta is believed to control much of the infrastructure in Calabria, and the group has gained funneled EU funding intended for agriculture and infrastructure for use toward its own purposes.
The prosecution of ‘Ndrangheta has become difficult due to the international reach of the family. While in Italy, prosecutors have the ability to order asset seizures for alleged association with the mafia, this category does not exist in any other country. The repeated escapes of Roberto Pannunzi, who was behind the alliance between ‘Ndrangheta and the Medellín cartel in Colombia, bear witness to the difficulty inherent to prosecuting an international organization. However, joint operations, such as the one between Italy and Canada in 2019, have brought success in apprehending ‘Ndrangheta families abroad.
The trial will continue to shed light on the evolving landscape of Italy’s mafia and, hopefully, will help the country to expunge the corruption which runs rampant in the south and has begun to spread to the north.