Dead dolphins, extortion, bullets in Italy's mafia 'maxi-trial'
Author: AFP|Update: 28.11.2021
The court has heard of ambulances moving drugs, water supplies diverted to marijuana crops and drowned migrants buried without coffins after rigged public tenders / © AFP/File
A dead dolphin on a doormat and windows smashed with sledgehammers. Weapons stored in cemetery chapels. Bribes to judges for acquittals, and bogus medical certificates letting convicted killers dodge prison.
These are the stories recounted since January by dozens of 'Ndrangheta members turned state witnesses in Italy's largest anti-mafia trial in three decades, covering everything from intimidation to vote-buying, and drug trafficking to murder.
"They waited for them in Piazza Morelli, invited them to eat ricotta at the farm... and then they killed, burned and melted them," testified one criminal-turned-witness, Andrea Mantella, describing a 1988 revenge killing of two brothers.
The 'Ndrangheta, Italy's most powerful organised crime syndicate, is in the crosshairs of the "maxi-trial" against 355 defendants held in the poor southern region of Calabria, the group's home turf.
Having expanded well beyond its rural roots, the 'Ndrangheta now dominates Europe's cocaine trade and has infiltrated many areas of the legal economy throughout Italy, and even abroad.
It is helped by close contacts with politicians and business figures, and its stranglehold over the local population in Calabria.
Testimony that wrapped up this month from an unprecedented 58 mafia informants -- connected to court by video link -- exposed both the brutality of the 'Ndrangheta, but also the insidious influence of the group at all levels of society.
The trial focuses on one Calabria province, Vibo Valentia, whose family clans are dominated by Luigi "The Supreme" Mancuso, 67, himself on trial after serving a 19-year sentence for drug and mafia crimes until 2012.
"Without the consent of Luigi Mancuso you can't open any business," testified his nephew, Emanuele Mancuso, in March.
- Payoffs and public servants -
With nicknames like "Lamb Thigh", "Sweetie", "Wolf" and "The Wringer", the defendants -- many of whom are related -- are alleged bosses and operatives, as well as their white-collar enablers.
Testimony that wrapped up this month from an unprecedented 58 mafia informants -- connected to court by video link / © AFP/File
They are accused of procuring weapons, gathering votes or delivering messages. Others allegedly collected and distributed cash to prisoners, acted as accountants, or managed relations with mafia in other regions. Still others determined extortion targets and planned ambushes.
The extent of the 'Ndrangheta's reach in the local economy has made it near impossible to eradicate.
The court has heard of ambulances moving drugs, water supplies diverted to marijuana crops and drowned migrants buried without coffins after rigged public tenders.
Informant Mantella, a high-ranking member who confessed to numerous murders, said 70,000 euros ($79,000)were paid to release him from prison to a medical clinic where "I did what I wanted", underscoring the 'Ndrangheta's financial clout.
Mantella and another state witness also testified that the 'Ndrangheta paid 50,000 euros to former senator and lawyer, Giancarlo Pittelli, who protests his innocence, for trial fixing.
The defendants also include police, court workers, mayors and other officials -- some allegedly meeting mafia in illegal Masonic lodges.
Calabrian journalist Consolato Minniti told AFP the maxi-trial is the first to go "above and beyond the 'military' side of the 'Ndrangheta".
"Until today, judges have generally targeted those who shoot," he said.
Cozy ties are nothing new. In the past 30 years, 110 city councils in Calabria have been dissolved over mafia infiltration -- some three times, including Lamezia Terme where the trial is being held.
The Mancuso family's home town, Limbadi, was the first. Its administration was dissolved by Italy's president in 1983 after a fugitive boss, Francesco "Ciccio" Mancuso, was elected mayor in absentia.
- Molotov cocktails -
Allegations in the 351-page indictment show how the 'Ndrangheta will stop at nothing to pursue its aims.
Various tactics are used to coerce protection money, force owners to sell below market value, get businesses to switch to mafia suppliers, or chase loans with extortionate interest, sometimes above 200 percent.
The defendants also include police, court workers, mayors and other officials -- some allegedly meeting mafia in illegal Masonic lodges / © AFP/File
Dead puppies, dolphins and goat heads have been dumped on the doorsteps of resisters, threatening phone calls made, beatings meted out, cars torched, Molotov cocktails thrown and shots fired.
Suspects in five murders, including a 'Ndrangheta member killed in 2002 because of his homosexuality, are in the dock in the maxi-trial.
The gay victim was buried and later covered by tarmac, informant Mantella said.
There were 1,320 mafia-related murders in Calabria from 1983 to 2018, according to the authorities.
In a May 2017 episode captured on wiretap and included in the indictment, a 'Ndrangheta member called the brother of a woman who lost 7,000 euros of marijuana after a police seizure.
"Let's try to get this money back or (you'll) find your sister in a cement pillar," the caller said.
"Because these people don't joke around."
The trial continues.
When Italy's anti-mafia prosecutor listens, testimonies flow
The reason Calabrians do not talk to the authorities is not because of the code of silence, but because "they don't know who to talk to," says Gratteri
But descend into the city, marred by abandoned storefronts and unsightly, half-finished concrete structures, and there is little to recommend a detour, save for -- ironically -- Vibo's institute of criminology.
Some 47 percent of young people are without jobs in the province, the fifth-highest rate in Italy.
"Vibo is a sad city, washed-up, that makes people ugly and doesn't inspire them to give their best," is how blogger and journalist Argentino Serraino describes his home town.
"That doesn't mean it should continue that way, though," said the 25-year-old.
Decades of 'Ndrangheta interference have contributed to Vibo's economic decline, through public funds siphoned off, businesses that shut rather than pay protection money, or entrepreneurs denied public contracts due to bid rigging. The phenomenon repeats throughout Calabria.
And despite the 'Ndrangheta's near-monopoly on the European cocaine trade and billions laundered through investments in the legal economy across Italy and internationally, the mafia still squeezes the locals.
The trial includes countless allegations of usury, property owners forced to sell below price to the mafia and shopkeepers and others routinely asked for "contributions".
- 'Ruined my life' -
Not everyone in Vibo is convinced the state has their back.
The indictment includes one Vibo merchant as both victim, and accomplice, of the 'Ndrangheta, underscoring the murky grey zone often seen in mafia territory.
"They've ruined my life," Rocco Tavella said, of authorities who kept him behind bars for five days after the 2019 sweep.
Tavella, who prosecutors say was pressured to sell clothing below cost to mafia members, denies being an intermediary in a 2011 money-lending episode, as claimed by one of the many informants turned state's witnesses in the trial.
"We'll see how many people are acquitted," he said sceptically.
One woman, Paola, who did not want to give her last name, said Vibo residents are paranoid, given the close-knit family and social ties with the accused.
"You can't lock someone up for just hearing something, or being seen with someone," she said, complaining that prosecutors had gone over the top in not limiting arrests to senior bosses.
"Am I not supposed to greet these people anymore?"
- Nothing to see here -
The battle against the 'Ndrangheta is made harder by scarce resources, said prosecutor Falvo.
Few veteran magistrates want to move to the area, so cases are fought by young, inexperienced lawyers who move on to other jobs at the first opportunity.
"How can we fight a war on the mafia with bare hands?" he asked.
Violence has not ended in Vibo. Last month, a defendant in the trial was shot, allegedly by the son of a mafia boss.
Security video images showed cars driving past the wounded man, and no witnesses -- not even the victim -- came forward to denounce the crime.
"It felt like we went backwards three years, all our work up in smoke," said the carabinieri's Capece.
Restaurant owner La Scala said that when he was being threatened, he questioned whether he should leave Vibo.
"Calabria is such a beautiful place, and Vibo is the most beautiful of the beautiful -- mountains and a splendid sea," said La Scala.
"If only it weren't tarnished with this cancer of the 'Ndrangheta."
ams/ar/kjm/spm
The reason Calabrians do not talk to the authorities is not because of the code of silence, but because "they don't know who to talk to," says Gratteri
(AFP/Alberto PIZZOLI)More
Alexandria SAGE
Sun, November 28, 2021, 12:05 AM·4 min read
One day a week, Italy's most prominent anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri receives people at his office to listen to their grievances.
In Calabria, the poor, southern region home to the feared 'Ndrangheta mafia, issues facing locals include threats, intimidation, extortion, loan sharks and even bloodshed at the hands of organised crime.
Those waiting their turn for 10 minutes with Gratteri are Calabrians who, until recently, had considered the state to be "very far away", the prosecuting magistrate told AFP in an interview.
"All the downtrodden people who have suffered humiliation, who have been threatened, the left-behind of the earth come to talk," said Gratteri, who has himself lived under state protection for over 30 years.
"They cry, they despair... they get emotional because they're talking with the prosecutor. Then they take heart because they see that we're serious."
For decades, the growing influence of the 'Ndrangheta, helped by close ties with the world of politics and business, was underestimated or dismissed by the state -- too weak, inefficient and corrupt to take on the crime syndicate that has spread throughout Italy and abroad.
Since becoming public prosecutor of Catanzaro province in 2016, making him responsible for anti-mafia proceedings in three-quarters of Calabria, Gratteri has been hailed as the region's last hope by many, though criticised by some as overzealous and fame-seeking.
Either way, he has been determined to prove the 'Ndrangheta is not invincible.
- 'Code of silence' -
The latest high-profile example is the ongoing "maxi-trial" against 355 alleged mafia members and associates, held in the nearby city of Lamezia Terme, the biggest such trial in three decades.
While the trial is far from over, the prosecution scored an early win this month in a lower court.
Guilty verdicts were handed to 70 out of 91 defendants in fast-track proceedings, including top mafia operatives who received the maximum sentence of 20 years.
An unprecedented 58 'Ndrangheta members turned state witnesses have taken the stand to divulge the secrets of the organised crime group, considered Italy's most powerful.
But, as in all proceedings against the 'Ndrangheta, most victims prove unwilling to denounce the group.
It is here that Gratteri's weekly ritual comes in.
The reason Calabrians do not talk to the authorities is not because of the code of silence, but because "they don't know who to talk to," said Gratteri.
There has been little to endear Calabrians to their government over the years.
Infrastructure projects go unfinished, the health system is near collapse and one of Europe's highest regional unemployment rates sends the area's best and brightest north to find work.
- 'I like to take charge' -
Since 1991, 110 municipal councils in Calabria have been dissolved after being infiltrated by the mafia, 61 of them twice.
The council in Lamezia Terme, the region's third-largest city and seat of the trial, has been dissolved three times, most recently in 2017.
In recent decades, the 'Ndrangheta quietly expanded as attention shifted to Sicily's Cosa Nostra following the 1992 killings of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Helped by its white-collar ties, the 'Ndrangheta now penetrates every sector of Calabria's economy, experts say, including construction and public contracts, money-lending, hospitals, agriculture, tourism and more.
Gratteri estimates that nine percent of Calabria's gross domestic product is stripped away by the 'Ndrangheta, whose near-monopoly on cocaine entering Europe and other lucrative activities such as rigging public tenders and fraud reap tens of billions of euros each year.
Its criminal proceeds, along with its infiltration of the legal economy at home and abroad, are worth 50 billion euros ($56 billion) annually, he estimates.
Against this pervasive threat, Gratteri needs the public's cooperation, which he said has been more forthcoming since the trial, with ordinary people sharing useful information.
"Today, people are talking more because they trust us more. People see the results and so they are encouraged, they consider us credible," he said.
"People can't imagine that there is someone who will take charge of their problems. And I like to take charge of their problems."
ams/ar/gw/spm
Alexandria SAGE
Sun, November 28, 2021, 12:05 AM·4 min read
One day a week, Italy's most prominent anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri receives people at his office to listen to their grievances.
In Calabria, the poor, southern region home to the feared 'Ndrangheta mafia, issues facing locals include threats, intimidation, extortion, loan sharks and even bloodshed at the hands of organised crime.
Those waiting their turn for 10 minutes with Gratteri are Calabrians who, until recently, had considered the state to be "very far away", the prosecuting magistrate told AFP in an interview.
"All the downtrodden people who have suffered humiliation, who have been threatened, the left-behind of the earth come to talk," said Gratteri, who has himself lived under state protection for over 30 years.
"They cry, they despair... they get emotional because they're talking with the prosecutor. Then they take heart because they see that we're serious."
For decades, the growing influence of the 'Ndrangheta, helped by close ties with the world of politics and business, was underestimated or dismissed by the state -- too weak, inefficient and corrupt to take on the crime syndicate that has spread throughout Italy and abroad.
Since becoming public prosecutor of Catanzaro province in 2016, making him responsible for anti-mafia proceedings in three-quarters of Calabria, Gratteri has been hailed as the region's last hope by many, though criticised by some as overzealous and fame-seeking.
Either way, he has been determined to prove the 'Ndrangheta is not invincible.
- 'Code of silence' -
The latest high-profile example is the ongoing "maxi-trial" against 355 alleged mafia members and associates, held in the nearby city of Lamezia Terme, the biggest such trial in three decades.
While the trial is far from over, the prosecution scored an early win this month in a lower court.
Guilty verdicts were handed to 70 out of 91 defendants in fast-track proceedings, including top mafia operatives who received the maximum sentence of 20 years.
An unprecedented 58 'Ndrangheta members turned state witnesses have taken the stand to divulge the secrets of the organised crime group, considered Italy's most powerful.
But, as in all proceedings against the 'Ndrangheta, most victims prove unwilling to denounce the group.
It is here that Gratteri's weekly ritual comes in.
The reason Calabrians do not talk to the authorities is not because of the code of silence, but because "they don't know who to talk to," said Gratteri.
There has been little to endear Calabrians to their government over the years.
Infrastructure projects go unfinished, the health system is near collapse and one of Europe's highest regional unemployment rates sends the area's best and brightest north to find work.
- 'I like to take charge' -
Since 1991, 110 municipal councils in Calabria have been dissolved after being infiltrated by the mafia, 61 of them twice.
The council in Lamezia Terme, the region's third-largest city and seat of the trial, has been dissolved three times, most recently in 2017.
In recent decades, the 'Ndrangheta quietly expanded as attention shifted to Sicily's Cosa Nostra following the 1992 killings of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Helped by its white-collar ties, the 'Ndrangheta now penetrates every sector of Calabria's economy, experts say, including construction and public contracts, money-lending, hospitals, agriculture, tourism and more.
Gratteri estimates that nine percent of Calabria's gross domestic product is stripped away by the 'Ndrangheta, whose near-monopoly on cocaine entering Europe and other lucrative activities such as rigging public tenders and fraud reap tens of billions of euros each year.
Its criminal proceeds, along with its infiltration of the legal economy at home and abroad, are worth 50 billion euros ($56 billion) annually, he estimates.
Against this pervasive threat, Gratteri needs the public's cooperation, which he said has been more forthcoming since the trial, with ordinary people sharing useful information.
"Today, people are talking more because they trust us more. People see the results and so they are encouraged, they consider us credible," he said.
"People can't imagine that there is someone who will take charge of their problems. And I like to take charge of their problems."
ams/ar/gw/spm
Living among the mafia blurs lines in Italy's south
1 / 9
Two years after a massive police sweep netted hundreds of alleged mafia members, the future is far from certain for the southern Italian city of Vibo Valentia and province of the same name (AFP/Gianluca CHININEA)More
Alexandria SAGE
Sat, November 27, 2021, 11:42 PM·6 min read
Two years ago, thousands of people in the Calabrian city of Vibo Valentia took to the streets on Christmas Eve morning to celebrate a massive police sweep that netted hundreds of alleged mafia members.
For those living under the shadow of the 'Ndrangheta, it was the first time locals had dared to publicly denounce Italy's most powerful organised crime syndicate that for decades has infiltrated the southern region's institutions, suffocated its economy and terrorised its people.
Unlike in previous instances -- when relatives of seized 'Ndrangheta members showed up at police stations to heckle authorities and applaud those arrested -- this time, the cheering was for the police.
"There was unending applause, it gave me shivers," recalled Giuseppe Borrello, the local representative for anti-mafia association Libera.
"From a symbolic point of view, it was important."
Two years on, however, the future is far from certain for the city and province of the same name -- often referred to just as Vibo -- as 355 arrested bosses, operatives and white-collar helpers of its 'Ndrangheta stand accused of a laundry list of crimes, from extortion and usury to money laundering and murder in an ongoing "maxi-trial".
A shooting last month has revived fears that a period of relative calm following the arrests is coming to an end, while sharp divides remain among the city's 31,000 residents.
Some see Vibo at a turning point, while others insist the 'Ndrangheta is still too powerful to be overcome. There are plenty, too, who accuse the state of overzealousness with its hundreds of arrests.
- 'Go to the boss' -
In late 2017, restaurant owner Filippo La Scala received two anonymous phone calls, ordering him to "bring money to the friends of Vibo".
After a Molotov cocktail was thrown onto the restaurant's patio, he headed to the police.
"It was a tough time," La Scala told AFP. "These things really stress you out."
La Scala, a civil party to the ongoing trial, said he felt "very confident" in authorities' new commitment in confronting the 'Ndrangheta after decades of institutional inertia, inefficiency and corruption.
"We've felt a new atmosphere of freedom in Vibo" after the December 2019 crackdown, La Scala said.
The head of Vibo's provincial carabinieri, Colonel Bruno Capece, agrees, while warning much remains to be done.
"Before, practically every night we got word of cars burned, roll-down gates shot at or damaged, people kneecapped, mafia phenomenon," Capece said.
The last murder in Vibo was in April 2020 and its perpetrator quickly found.
Police similarly solved the approximately 10 murder attempts since the raids within 48 hours, he said.
The close work of police and prosecutors, he said, is a new sign of credibility in a territory where locals have long been accustomed to denunciations that go nowhere and trials that drag on or end in acquittals -- often through collusion between the 'Ndrangheta and those in power.
Until relatively recently, "only the clans ruled here, and the response of the state was practically non-existent," said the public prosecutor of Vibo, Camillo Falvo.
Trust in authorities is earned through results, said Falvo, and until now, the weak state has played directly into the hands of the 'Ndrangheta.
"If you file a civil lawsuit and it's never decided... the second time you've got a problem you go to the boss nearby and tell him, 'Look, this guy has to pay back my money'."
- 'Washed-up' -
Site of the ancient Greek colony of Hipponion, Vibo still boasts a picture-perfect 12th-century castle on a hill where goats graze in the evenings, offering a spectacular view of the distant volcano of Stromboli.
1 / 9
Two years after a massive police sweep netted hundreds of alleged mafia members, the future is far from certain for the southern Italian city of Vibo Valentia and province of the same name (AFP/Gianluca CHININEA)More
Alexandria SAGE
Sat, November 27, 2021, 11:42 PM·6 min read
Two years ago, thousands of people in the Calabrian city of Vibo Valentia took to the streets on Christmas Eve morning to celebrate a massive police sweep that netted hundreds of alleged mafia members.
For those living under the shadow of the 'Ndrangheta, it was the first time locals had dared to publicly denounce Italy's most powerful organised crime syndicate that for decades has infiltrated the southern region's institutions, suffocated its economy and terrorised its people.
Unlike in previous instances -- when relatives of seized 'Ndrangheta members showed up at police stations to heckle authorities and applaud those arrested -- this time, the cheering was for the police.
"There was unending applause, it gave me shivers," recalled Giuseppe Borrello, the local representative for anti-mafia association Libera.
"From a symbolic point of view, it was important."
Two years on, however, the future is far from certain for the city and province of the same name -- often referred to just as Vibo -- as 355 arrested bosses, operatives and white-collar helpers of its 'Ndrangheta stand accused of a laundry list of crimes, from extortion and usury to money laundering and murder in an ongoing "maxi-trial".
A shooting last month has revived fears that a period of relative calm following the arrests is coming to an end, while sharp divides remain among the city's 31,000 residents.
Some see Vibo at a turning point, while others insist the 'Ndrangheta is still too powerful to be overcome. There are plenty, too, who accuse the state of overzealousness with its hundreds of arrests.
- 'Go to the boss' -
In late 2017, restaurant owner Filippo La Scala received two anonymous phone calls, ordering him to "bring money to the friends of Vibo".
After a Molotov cocktail was thrown onto the restaurant's patio, he headed to the police.
"It was a tough time," La Scala told AFP. "These things really stress you out."
La Scala, a civil party to the ongoing trial, said he felt "very confident" in authorities' new commitment in confronting the 'Ndrangheta after decades of institutional inertia, inefficiency and corruption.
"We've felt a new atmosphere of freedom in Vibo" after the December 2019 crackdown, La Scala said.
The head of Vibo's provincial carabinieri, Colonel Bruno Capece, agrees, while warning much remains to be done.
"Before, practically every night we got word of cars burned, roll-down gates shot at or damaged, people kneecapped, mafia phenomenon," Capece said.
The last murder in Vibo was in April 2020 and its perpetrator quickly found.
Police similarly solved the approximately 10 murder attempts since the raids within 48 hours, he said.
The close work of police and prosecutors, he said, is a new sign of credibility in a territory where locals have long been accustomed to denunciations that go nowhere and trials that drag on or end in acquittals -- often through collusion between the 'Ndrangheta and those in power.
Until relatively recently, "only the clans ruled here, and the response of the state was practically non-existent," said the public prosecutor of Vibo, Camillo Falvo.
Trust in authorities is earned through results, said Falvo, and until now, the weak state has played directly into the hands of the 'Ndrangheta.
"If you file a civil lawsuit and it's never decided... the second time you've got a problem you go to the boss nearby and tell him, 'Look, this guy has to pay back my money'."
- 'Washed-up' -
Site of the ancient Greek colony of Hipponion, Vibo still boasts a picture-perfect 12th-century castle on a hill where goats graze in the evenings, offering a spectacular view of the distant volcano of Stromboli.
But descend into the city, marred by abandoned storefronts and unsightly, half-finished concrete structures, and there is little to recommend a detour, save for -- ironically -- Vibo's institute of criminology.
Some 47 percent of young people are without jobs in the province, the fifth-highest rate in Italy.
"Vibo is a sad city, washed-up, that makes people ugly and doesn't inspire them to give their best," is how blogger and journalist Argentino Serraino describes his home town.
"That doesn't mean it should continue that way, though," said the 25-year-old.
Decades of 'Ndrangheta interference have contributed to Vibo's economic decline, through public funds siphoned off, businesses that shut rather than pay protection money, or entrepreneurs denied public contracts due to bid rigging. The phenomenon repeats throughout Calabria.
And despite the 'Ndrangheta's near-monopoly on the European cocaine trade and billions laundered through investments in the legal economy across Italy and internationally, the mafia still squeezes the locals.
The trial includes countless allegations of usury, property owners forced to sell below price to the mafia and shopkeepers and others routinely asked for "contributions".
- 'Ruined my life' -
Not everyone in Vibo is convinced the state has their back.
The indictment includes one Vibo merchant as both victim, and accomplice, of the 'Ndrangheta, underscoring the murky grey zone often seen in mafia territory.
"They've ruined my life," Rocco Tavella said, of authorities who kept him behind bars for five days after the 2019 sweep.
Tavella, who prosecutors say was pressured to sell clothing below cost to mafia members, denies being an intermediary in a 2011 money-lending episode, as claimed by one of the many informants turned state's witnesses in the trial.
"We'll see how many people are acquitted," he said sceptically.
One woman, Paola, who did not want to give her last name, said Vibo residents are paranoid, given the close-knit family and social ties with the accused.
"You can't lock someone up for just hearing something, or being seen with someone," she said, complaining that prosecutors had gone over the top in not limiting arrests to senior bosses.
"Am I not supposed to greet these people anymore?"
- Nothing to see here -
The battle against the 'Ndrangheta is made harder by scarce resources, said prosecutor Falvo.
Few veteran magistrates want to move to the area, so cases are fought by young, inexperienced lawyers who move on to other jobs at the first opportunity.
"How can we fight a war on the mafia with bare hands?" he asked.
Violence has not ended in Vibo. Last month, a defendant in the trial was shot, allegedly by the son of a mafia boss.
Security video images showed cars driving past the wounded man, and no witnesses -- not even the victim -- came forward to denounce the crime.
"It felt like we went backwards three years, all our work up in smoke," said the carabinieri's Capece.
Restaurant owner La Scala said that when he was being threatened, he questioned whether he should leave Vibo.
"Calabria is such a beautiful place, and Vibo is the most beautiful of the beautiful -- mountains and a splendid sea," said La Scala.
"If only it weren't tarnished with this cancer of the 'Ndrangheta."
ams/ar/kjm/spm
© STR The railway will connect the Laos capital Vientiane with the Chinese city of Kunming
