(Rome) Italian justice dealt a heavy blow on Saturday to the ‘Ndrangheta, the most powerful mafia group in Italy, by convicting 70 of its members and others with ties to it, in the framework of the largest trial of the Mafia since the late 1980s.
Judge Claudio Paris read the verdicts against 91 defendants in the huge courtroom in the town of Lamezia Terme, in Calabria (south), where a “maxi-trial” has been held since January. hundreds of suspected members and collaborators of the organized crime syndicate’Ndrangheta.
355 defendants have yet to be tried there, the proceedings being scheduled for two years or more.
Investigations took several years and culminated with raids carried out in December 2019.
The 91 people who have just been sentenced had opted for a rapid trial, behind closed doors, which allowed them, in the event of conviction, to have their sentences reduced by a third.
Renowned anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri – whom his efforts to defeat the’Ndrangheta forced him to live under police protection for more than 30 years – said everything went “very well” on Saturday.
“Out of 91 defendants, 70 presumed innocent people have been convicted,” he told Italian news agency AdnKronos, adding that those acquitted were minor actors.
Some were given the maximum sentence of 20 years required by prosecutors.
These include Domenico Macri, from the military wing of the group, Pasquale Gallone, the right-hand man of the alleged Mafia boss Luigi Mancuso, whose trial is still ongoing, and Gregorio Niglia, who had in particular for role of procuring weapons and engaging in extortion.
About a third of this group received sentences of ten years or more and 21 people were acquitted, Gratteri said.
Of the eight for whom the prosecution had required 20 years in prison, six received the full sentence, including Pasquale Gallone, 62, who helped orchestrate his boss’s three years on the run from 2014, two years after Luigi Mancuso was released from prison after spending 19 years there.
The main defendants not yet tried
The main defendants, however, opted for a normal trial, namely Luigi Mancuso “the Uncle”, 67, considered the head of the ‘Ndrangheta families who dominated the province of Vibo Valentia in Calabria, and the former senator. and lawyer Giancarlo Pittelli, 68 years old.
The ‘Ndrangheta, based in Calabria, Italy’s poorest region, controls most of the flow of cocaine entering Europe.
This network of around 150 families vying for positions within the organization has at least 6,000 members and affiliates in Calabria and thousands more are supporting it around the world, experts say.
Although she now operates internationally and her earnings are reinvested in the legal economy, the’Ndrangheta’s ability to infiltrate almost every segment of the public administration in Calabria has enabled her to secure lucrative contracts and to consolidate its power.
The defendants convicted on Saturday had to answer in particular for mafia association, attempted murder, money laundering, drug trafficking, extortion and illegal possession of weapons.
The maxi-trial takes place in a huge courtroom capable of accommodating hundreds of lawyers defending their clients and more than 900 prosecution witnesses and 58 defense witnesses.
The legendary maxi-trial of 1986-1987 had for its part dealt a blow to the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, with 338 convictions.