LAMEZIA TERME, Italy – A trial with more than 320 accused began on Wednesday in the south of Italy against the ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate’s, probably the world’s richest criminal organization that quietly gathered power when the Sicilian mafia lost influence.
It is expected to last at least a year, and the trial will take place in a specially built high-security bunker on the vast grounds of an industrial park in Calabria, the ‘tone’ of the Italian peninsula.
Prosecutors hope the trial will take a heavy toll on the ‘ndrangheta, the Calabrian mob organization that has used tens of billions of dollars in cocaine revenue to expand its criminal reach across Europe and to several continents.
Anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told reporters when he arrived at the bunker that the trial, which targeted suspected members of a dozen crime groups, as well as local officials, businessmen and politicians allegedly working together with gangs, was a turning point.
“Decades ago, people were shaking when they talked about Cosa Nostra or using the word ‘ndrangheta’, something they would just say and whisper in a hidden room, around the fireplace,” says Gratteri, who was born in Calabria and who remembers how he played and went to school with boys who later became ‘ndranghetisti’, as the syndicate’s ranks are known. “Today we begin to speak in the open sunlight.”
The increasing deviations from the past are increasingly welcomed by him and other people in Italy who tackle the ‘ndrangheta as well as other Italian crime syndicates, when few people dared to retaliate by reporting attempts to extort money from’ businesses big and small ‘ protect. and other forms of intimidation.
“We are seeing an increase in complaints by business people, bullied citizens, victims of usury, people who have been under the pressure for years,” Gratteri said.
Investigators say the ‘ndrangheta bases have settled in much of Western, Northern and Central Europe, Australia, North and South America and are also active in Africa.
The first three hours of the opening day of the trial were used by the court’s formal call from the accused and their lawyers. Defendants sent to jail for convictions in other cases can follow the proceedings through a videoconference.
The trial arose from an investigation into 12 generations linked to a convicted ‘ndrangheta boss. The figure is Luigi Mancuso, who served 19 years in the Italian prison for his role in leading what investigators say is one of the ‘ndrangheta’s most powerful crime families, in the city of Vibo Valentia.
The prosecutor indicated that they wanted to call more than 900 witnesses.
Among the allegations being considered by the court are drug and arms trafficking, extortion and mafia association, a term used in Italy’s criminal law for members of organized crime groups. Others are charged with complicity in the ‘ndrangheta without actually being a member.
About 325 accused were ordered to be tried in court in Lamezia Terme, while another 90 accused in the investigation preferred to have a speedy trial, which starts in Calabria later this month. In another result of the same investigation, a trial of five murders begins in February elsewhere in Calabria.
The Lamezia Terme bunker is so large that a number of video screens are anchored to the ceiling so that the participants can watch the proceedings. There are a sea of tables that 600 attorneys can work on, with microphones and chairs safely removed to respect COVID-19 health rules.
Although the numbers are impressive, this week’s trial is not the biggest trial against Italy against mobsters.
In 1986, in Palermo, in a similar specially built bunker, 475 suspected members of Cosa Nostra tried the Sicilian Mafia, resulting in more than 300 convictions and 19 life sentences. The trial helped uncover many of the cruel methods and murderous strategies of the island’s top bosses, including high-profile killings that have plagued the Palermo region during years of power struggles.
On the other hand, this trial against the ‘ndrangheta is aimed at obtaining convictions for alleged conspiracy among gangs and local politicians, public officials, businessmen and members of secret lodges to give an indication of how deep the syndicate is in the area.
The ‘ndrangheta for decades, almost entirely based on blood ties, was virtually immune to twists and turns. But their ranks are starting to get bigger. One of Mancuso’s family members is among residents of the state’s testimony at the Lamezia Terme trial. Several dozen informants in the case come from the ‘ndrangheta, but others come from the former ranks of Cosa Nostra on Sicily and can be called to testify.
The ‘ndrangheta exploded in the revenue of cocaine trafficking and devoured hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, car dealers and other businesses in Italy, especially in Rome and the affluent north, revealed criminal investigations.
The purchase price has spread strongly across Europe in recent years, as the ‘ndrangheta has had an attempt to launder illegal income, but also to earn’ clean ‘money by running legitimate businesses, including in the tourism and hospitality sector, according to the investigators.