LAMEZIA TERME, Italy (AP) – A trial with more than 320 defendants began on Wednesday in southern Italy against the crime syndicate ‘ndrangheta, arguably the richest criminal organization in the world that has quietly amassed power in as the Sicilian mafia lost influence.
It is expected to last at least a year, the trial will take place in a high-security bunker specially built on the extensive grounds of an industrial park in Calabria, the “finger” of the Italian peninsula.
Prosecutors expect the trial to deal a severe blow to the ‘ndrangheta, the Calabria-based mob organization that has exploited tens of billions of dollars in cocaine revenue for decades to extend its criminal reach to Europe and several continents.
Anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told reporters when he arrived at the bunker that the trial, targeting alleged members of a dozen crime clans, as well as local officials, businessmen and politicians who were allegedly on their bellies with mobsters, went mark a turning point.
“Decades ago, people would tremble when they talked about Cosa Nostra or when they used the word ‘ndrangheta, which they would say only in a hidden room, around the fireplace, whispering,” said Gratteri, who was born in Calabria and recalled how he played and attended school with boys who later grew up to become ‘ndranghetisti, as the union ranks are known. “Today we start talking in the sunlight.”
The encouragement of him and others in Italy facing the ndrangheta and other Italian criminal unions are the growing exits of the past, when few dared to provoke retaliation from mobsters reporting attempts to claim money from “ protection ”in small and large companies. and other forms of bullying.
“We have seen an increase in complaints from employers, harassed citizens, victims of usury, people who for years have been under the protection of the‘ ndrangheta, ”Gratteri said.
Researchers say the ‘ndrangheta has established bases in much of western, northern and central Europe, Australia, North and South America and is also active in Africa.
The first three hours of the day of the opening of the trial were consumed by the formal summons of the defendants and their lawyers. Defendants jailed for convictions in other cases could follow the proceedings via video conference.
The trial arose from an investigation of 12 clans related to a convicted ‘ndrangheta chief. This figure is Luigi Mancuso, who served 19 years in Italian prison for his role at the head of what investigators report is one of the most powerful criminal families of the ‘ndrangheta, based in the city of Vibo Valentia.
The prosecution has indicated that it expects to call more than 900 witnesses.
Among the charges the court is examining are drug and arms trafficking, extortion and mafia association, a term used in Italy’s penal code for members of organized crime groups. Others are accused of complicity with the ‘ndrangheta without being a member.
About 325 defendants were ordered to stand trial in the Lamezia Terme court, while another 90 defendants in the investigation opted for a speedy trial, which begins later this month in Calabria. In another result of the same investigation, a trial begins in February with five murders elsewhere in Calabria.
The Lamezia Terme bunker is so vast that a large number of video screens have been anchored to the ceiling for participants to see the performances. There is a sea of tables to work 600 lawyers, with microphones and chairs spaced securely to comply with COVID-19 health standards.
While the numbers are staggering, this week’s trial is not the biggest in Italy against the mobsters.
In 1986, in Palermo, in a bunker of similar construction, 475 alleged members of Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia, were tried, which led to more than 300 convictions and 19 life sentences. That trial helped reveal much of the brutal methods and murderous strategies of the island’s top mafia bosses, including the sensational killings that bloodied the Palermo area during years of power struggles.
Instead, this trial against the ndrangheta aims to obtain convictions for alleged collusion between mobsters and local politicians, public officials, businessmen and members of secret lodges, with an indication of the union’s deep-rootedness in the territory.
Based almost entirely on blood ties, the ‘ndrangheta for decades was virtually immune to vests. But their ranks are starting to get more substantial. One of Mancuso’s relatives is the one who announced the state evidence at the trial in Lamezia Terme. Several dozen informants in the case come from the ndrangheta, but others come from the old ranks of Cosa Nostra in Sicily and could be called to testify.
Flooded with revenue from cocaine trafficking, the ‘ndrangheta has engulfed hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, car dealerships and other businesses across Italy, especially in Rome and the rich north, criminal investigations have revealed.
The buying episodes of recent years spread strongly across Europe, as the ‘ndrangheta tried to launder illicit income but also make “clean” money by running legitimate companies, including the tourism and hospitality sectors, according to researchers. .
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Frances D’Emilio reported from Rome.