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It was just over a year ago that some 3,000 carabinieri stormed the Ndrangheta at night in the Calabria region of southern Italy. “Rinascita Scott” was the code name for the operation. Hundreds of suspects have been arrested. The investigators were led by Nicola Gratteri, 62, a senior prosecutor and head of the Catanzaro regional anti-mafia authority.
Gratteri is also the chief prosecutor in the largest trial against the Calabrian mafia that began on Wednesday, the largest since the so-called Maxi trial in Palermo against Cosa Nostra in the late 1980s. 355 defendants now must answer to the court; A spacious audience hall was built especially for the occasion in the Lamezia Terme industrial park. 913 witnesses were summoned, including 58 key witnesses and a judge convicted of corruption. “This procedure is a milestone in the knowledge of the ndrangheta,” says Gratteri.
Branches on all continents
The organization is considered the most powerful mafia in Italy with branches on all continents; the ?? Ndrangheta is also active in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. The branches are mainly used for money laundering. Years ago, total sales were estimated at 50 billion euros, 80 percent of the cocaine trade in Europe is the result of the Mafia organization.
From the Lamezia Terme trial, researchers hope to gain special insight into the interplay between clans, bureaucracy, politics, and administration. Gratteri and his colleagues pay special attention to the Mancuso clan of Vibo Valentia province, as well as the role of politicians, lawyers, tax advisers and administrative officials who are said to have created a kind of parallel state in the province. Among other things, it deals with crimes such as the formation of a mafia association, extortion, money laundering and theft of public contracts.
The day after the raid, Calabrian civil society sent an important signal: more than 5,000 people celebrated the police operation in the streets of Vibo Valentia.
According to Gratteri, the Ndrangheta remains so powerful because, unlike other organizations, its structure is based on close family ties and its members strictly follow the rules imposed by the bosses. “A young ndranghetista learns to act without asking questions. If he wants to know the motive for a murder, he is eliminated,” says Gratteri, who is undoubtedly the best expert on organized crime in Calabria.
With this structure, the Ndrangheta clans spread to northern Europe, for example to the Amsterdam flower wholesale market. In 2007, six men were shot outside an Italian restaurant in Duisburg, the background was a dispute between clans in the town of San Luca. San Luca is located in the inaccessible Aspromonte mountains on top of the Italian boot.
Gratteri was investigating the case. His hometown, Gerace, is only 30 kilometers away. Gratteri experienced the effects of mob crime when he was a schoolboy. The father of a classmate was killed in an assassination attempt and the daughter of a chief was among his classmates.
Permanently in danger of death
Gratteri attended university in Catania, Sicily, and has been working as a prosecutor in Calabria since 1986. Just three years later, he was assigned bodyguards. His girlfriend at the time and today’s wife had been threatened, and the lawyer has been traveling with an escort for 30 years. The vehicles in which it moves are armored; His office in the Catanzaro Palace of Justice is specially protected. In 2005, investigators discovered an arsenal that would likely be used against Gratteri.
As uncomfortable as the threats are, for Italian prosecutors they are also a sign that they are on the right track. Gratteri is repeatedly disputed as the Italian Minister of Justice. However, his prominent position and presence in the media also generate criticism. His Catanzaro colleague, prosecutor Otello Lupacchini, recently publicly described his investigation as “inconclusive.” The population of Catanzaro responded with expressions of solidarity. Lupacchini was transferred to Turin by the Minister of Justice. Now Gratteri has the opportunity to refute his criticism at the Lamezia Terme Maxi Trial.
