Hundreds of ‘Ndrangheta mobsters including ‘The Wolf’, ‘Fatty’ and ‘Sweetie’ face jail as Italian judges prepare to deliver verdicts today in Mafia mega trial held inside ultra-secure bunker courtroom

Hundreds of alleged ‘Ndrangheta gangsters will be sentenced by Italian judges today, marking the end of Italy’s biggest mafia trial in more than three decades.

Among those in the dock are gangsters who go by numerous nicknames, including ‘The Wolf’, ‘Fatty’ and ‘Sweetie’.

In total, prosecutors are seeking guilty verdicts against 322 alleged mafia members and their white-collar collaborators. This could be the biggest blow yet against one of the most powerful organized crime syndicates in the world, which has a virtual monopoly over the European Union. trafficking in cocaine.

The mega-trial began almost three years ago in an ultra-secure courtroom in a bunker in the southern region of Calabira, where the powerful ‘Ndrangheta organization was originally based.

Since then, the Vibo Valentia court has heard thousands of hours of testimony, including from more than fifty former mafia agents turned state witnesses.

The witnesses have given countless examples of the brutality of the ‘Ndrangheta and its stranglehold on the local population, whether by carrying out violent ambushes, taking down business owners, manipulating public tenders, stockpiling weapons, collecting of voting or passing on bribes to the powerful.

Those who opposed the mob found dead puppies, dolphins or goat heads dumped on their doorsteps, sledgehammers taken to storefronts, or cars set on fire. Some were murdered, their bodies never found, while others were beaten or shot.

The suspects include the alleged accomplices of mob boss Luigi Mancuso, known as ‘The Uncle’, who go by a host of nicknames, including ‘The Wolf’, ‘Fatty’, ‘Sweetie’, ‘Blondie’, ‘Little Goat’ and ‘The Wringer’. Mancuso, 69, was removed from the list of defendants last year to be tried separately.

The test took place in a specially built high-security bunker. Part of an industrial park in the town of Lamezia Terme, the bunker is so large that twenty video screens were anchored to the ceiling so participants could watch the events.

The more than 320 defendants are accused of crimes including drug and arms trafficking, extortion and mafia association, a term in the Italian criminal code for members of organized crime groups. Others are accused of complicity in the ‘Ndrangheta without actually being members.

The indictment stems from an investigation into 12 clans linked to convicted mafia boss Mancusco, who served 19 years in Italian prison for his role in leading what investigators say is one of the most powerful crime families in the ‘Ndrangheta. in the town of Vibo Valentia. .

The ‘Ndrangheta of Vibo Valentia was entrenched in the local economy, feared by entrepreneurs and farmers, and protected by white-collar professionals and politicians.

The ‘Ndrangheta was based almost entirely on blood ties and was virtually immune to defectors for decades, but the ranks of those who have handed over the evidence of the state continue to swell. In the current trial they involve a relative of Mancuso.

Several dozen informants in the case came from the ‘Ndrangheta, while others formerly belonged to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra.

The informants – a relatively rare phenomenon within the ‘Ndrangheta due to blood ties between members – described how weapons were hidden in cemetery chapels and ambulances used to transport drugs, and how the municipal water supply was diverted to marijuana crops.

According to anti-mafia prosecutors who led the investigation in southern Italy, the organized crime syndicate ‘Ndrangheta now has a near monopoly on cocaine imports into Europe.

The organization also has bases in North and South America and is active in Africa, Italian prosecutors allege, and ‘Ndrangheta figures have been arrested across Europe and in Brazil and Lebanon in recent years.

Despite the large number of defendants, the trial was not the largest in Italy involving alleged gangsters.

In 1986, 475 alleged members of the Sicilian Mafia were tried in a similarly built bunker in Palermo. The proceedings resulted in more than 300 convictions and 19 life sentences.

That trial helped expose many of the brutal methods and murderous strategies of the island’s top mafia bosses, including sensational killings that left the Palermo area in blood during years of power struggles.

This trial against the ‘Ndrangheta, on the other hand, aimed to secure convictions and sentences based on alleged collusion between gangsters and local politicians, officials, businessmen and members of secret lodges to show how deeply entrenched the syndicate is in Calabria.

“The relevance (of this trial) is enormous,” said Italian MP, former chief prosecutor against the mafia, and MP Federico Cafiero De Raho, former chief prosecutor against the mafia.

“First of all, because any trial against the ‘ndrangheta sends a very important message to the territory, which is not only the Calabrian territory, but also the national territory.”

“But it also has consequences at the European and global level, because the ‘ndrangheta is one of the strongest organizations in the world, able to manage the international trade in narcotics, as well as many other activities,” Cafiero De Raho added.

The ‘ndrangheta, flush with revenue from cocaine trafficking, has gobbled up hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, car dealers and other businesses across Italy, especially in Rome and the country’s prosperous north, a criminal investigation has found.

The buying frenzy spread across Europe as the syndicate sought to launder illicit income but also make “clean” money by running legitimate businesses, including in the tourism and hospitality sectors, investigators alleged.

“Arrests may halt their activities for a while, but the investigations always determine the need for further investigation,” Cafiero De Raho said.

Today, mafia experts estimate that the ‘Ndrangheta, made up of about 150 Calabrian families and their associates, rake in more than €50 billion annually worldwide from drug trafficking, usury, siphoning off public funds and extortion.

In Calabria, the ‘Ndrangheta has entered virtually all areas of public life, from the town hall and hospitals to the courts. But its scope is much broader and the ‘Ndrangheta now operates in more than 40 countries, experts say.

Relying on frontmen, shell companies and elite favors, the ‘Ndrangheta reinvests illicit profits into the legitimate economy, cementing its power.

For the first time in such trials, the list of defendants includes many non-mafia members, including a senior police official, mayors and other officials and businessmen.

The most famous is the seventy-year-old ex-parliamentarian and lawyer Giancarlo Pittelli, who is accused of being a fixer for the mafia and a mediator in the world of politics, finance and illegal Masonic lodges.