In one of the biggest Mafia trials in Italy in recent years, more than 200 defendants were sentenced to more than 2200 years in prison. The three-year trial saw individuals linked to the Ndrangheta, one of Europe’s most powerful criminal organisations, charged with crimes ranging from extortion to drug trafficking, on Tuesday, the 21st of November, reported the BBC.
The case showed the Mafia’s widespread influence on politics and society in the southern Italian region, as civil servants, local officials, businessmen and politicians were convicted, revealing the extensive influence of organised crime on Italian institutions.
The Ndrangheta, which has its roots in Calabria, is a very dangerous criminal organisation that controls up to 80% of the European cocaine market and has an estimated annual turnover of USD 60 billion.
Among the most prominent convicted was Giancarlo Pittelli, a former senator from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiring with a mafia-style organisation, writes the BBC.
Among the convicted were civil servants, professionals from various industries and high-ranking officials
who played a key role in the Ndrangheta’s infiltration of the legal economy and public institutions.
The judges who presided over the case were under police protection due to concerns for their safety. The trial took place in a call centre on the outskirts of the town of Lamézia Terme, which was converted into a high-security courtroom equipped with cages to hold the accused. It was large enough to accommodate around 600 lawyers and 900 witnesses, the BBC writes.
The trial focused on Ndrangheta’s extensive criminal activities, including murder, drug trafficking and corruption.
The three-year trial revealed the Ndrangheta’s global influence in South America and Australia. Its members had infiltrated local economies, public institutions, and the healthcare system, engaging in the manipulation of public procurement and the bribery of public officials.
In December 2019, a major operation throughout 11 Italian regions involving 2500 police officers led to the arrest of most of the accused. The searches focused on the Vibo Valentia region, which is largely controlled by the Ndrangheta Mancuso clan, writes the BBC
More than 50 former mafia members cooperated in the trial.
Testimony at the trial revealed Ndrangheta’s activities, including hiding weapons in cemetery chapels, using ambulances to transport drugs and diverting public water to grow marijuana. Resistance to the gang had severe consequences, such as dead animals left at homes, cars being burned and shop windows destroyed.
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