More than 200 defendants in the largest trial against the Italian ‘Ndrangheta mafia have been convicted in the first sentence of the first macro-trial against this criminal organization, considered one of the strongest and most violent in the world.
Of the 343 defendants, 131 were acquitted or their crimes were declared statute-barred and the rest of those convicted, 208, have a total of about 2,100 years in prison, compared to the 4,744 years claimed by the Prosecutor’s Office, according to local media reports.
The trial opened in January 2021 against 343 accused of belonging to or collaborating with the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, one of the most powerful and bloodthirsty criminal organizations on the planet.
So much so that the trial was held in a bunker built in an industrial estate in the Calabrian town of Lamezia Terme for security reasons but also to accommodate the accused and their defensive teams.
After a month of deliberations, and after reading the sentence for almost two hours, the judges have sentenced dozens of gangsters, politicians and local authorities.
Among those sentenced to 11 years in prison is the former deputy of the ‘Berlusconi’ Forza Italia, Giancarlo Pittelli, accused of collaborating with this criminal organization, as well as the carabinieri lieutenant Giorgio Naselli, to 2 and a half years.
The harshest sentences have been for the considered boss of the San Gregorio d’Ipona area, Saverio Razionale, that of Sant’Onofrio, Domenico Bonavota, or that of the Lo Bianco clan, Paolino Lo Bianco, all to 30 years in prison.
This is the largest trial of the Italian mafia since the historic Palermo trial against the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in 1986, which revealed its structure for the first time and brought more than 460 criminals and some of their bosses to trial.
On this occasion, the Italian authorities have chosen to hold the trial against the ‘Ndrangheta in the region from which it operates, Calabria, instead of doing so elsewhere, to send a message of strength and the presence of the State against organized crime. .
The defendants, alleged gangsters and collaborators such as politicians, soldiers and businessmen, were arrested in 2019 within the framework of the ‘Rinascita-Scott’ operation, directed and completed by the Catanzaro prosecutor, Nicola Gratteri, in Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and Switzerland. .
The defendants have responded to charges such as membership in a mafia association, homicide, attempted homicide, extortion, illicit possession of weapons and explosives, influence peddling, corruption, abuse of power and drug trafficking.
At the center of the investigations is the ‘ndrina’ or Mancuso clan, considered by researchers to be one of the most powerful and influential families of the ‘Ndrangheta and true authority in the Calabrian province of Vibo Valentia.
Currently the ‘Ndrangheta is the most powerful mafia in Italy and one of the most prosperous on the planet, generating around 50 billion euros a year, according to experts.
