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A year ago, 334 people were arrested in one of the largest attacks ever against one of the Italian mafia organizations. Among those arrested were accountants, lawyers and judicial officials.
The arrests have now led to charges against 444 people, suspected of various crimes including murder, attempted murder, money laundering, extortion and drug smuggling, according to a legal source with access to the charges, according to Reuters.
On January 13, the first trial against 355 alleged members of the mafia begins. This is one of the largest organized crime cases tried in court since the so-called maximum trial against the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra in Palermo 1986-1992.
The other 89 suspects have agreed to a fast-track trial that begins on January 27. If found guilty, they will receive a lighter punishment.
The Ndrangheta Mafia is made up of around a hundred more or less independent clans or so-called families (‘ndrine) based in the Calabria region of southern Italy, and now they are more powerful than Cosa Nostra. The Ndrangheta clans have spread throughout Italy, as well as parts of Europe, Australia, and North and South America, and are considered one of the largest criminal organizations in the world.
The Italian judiciary has already prepared for the trials by building a fortified court in the Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme. The building is large enough to accommodate everyone involved: judges, defendants, lawyers and prosecutors.
Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, who is leading the case, believes that the mafia bosses are developing at the same rate as the rest of society.
– They look more and more like the rest of us. The leaders of the mafia are not Martians, they live in our midst, he says and continues:
– Mafia bosses prefer to corrupt people rather than kill them, because shootings attract unwanted attention.
Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri is leading the case.
Photo: Adriana Sapone / AP
According to the prosecutor It is becoming easier for criminals to infiltrate local administrations and obtain profitable contracts.
– Ethics and morals have been drastically weakened in recent years, which has facilitated the corruption of public officials. This does not only include Italy. It covers the western world.
Although many are on trial, they do not include the top bosses of the Ndrangheta mafia.
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