Italy could finally see end of Mafia after 207 mobsters jailed for 2,200 years

25 November 2023 , 11:07

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The suspected head of a Calabrian mafia crime family 'Ndrangheta, Salvatore Coluccio is escorted by police special forces following his arrest (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Godfather Pasquale Bonavota was carrying false documents when snatched as he knelt to pray in a cathedral in Genoa, Italy.

Another mob boss arrested as he worked as a chef in an Italian restaurant in Saint-Etienne, France. And another was captured when police swooped on his car wash in Munich, Germany. They were among 350 suspected members of the feared 'Ndrangheta gang rounded up as Italy got tough with the notorious organised crime group.

They included 132 people arrested one day in May in raids on over 150 addresses, including eight European countries, Brazil and Panama. They were tracked down by an elite police unit known as the Cacciatori – the hunters. Salvatore Coluccio was arrested in 2009 in Calabria after four years on the run. He was reportedly found in a special bunker equipped with a generator, air conditioning and food supplies.

Some of the guns seized by Italian police in an anti-mafia operation (AFP/Getty Images)

Ernesto Fazzalari had been on the run for 20 years when police snared him in 2016 in a house close to his last known home in the region. It all culminated this week as Italy’s biggest mob trial in three decades, which for the last 33 months has sat in a specially-constructed high-security bunker in Lamezia Terme, Calabria.

Some 207 mobsters were sentenced to a total of 2,200 years in jail on charges ranging from murder and extortion to drug trafficking and money laundering. It took a panel of three female judges nearly two hours just to read out the sentences passed on to 338 defendants including a former senator, a police chief and local councillors.

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A huge stash of cash seized by the authorities in Italy

The trial offered unparalleled insight into the workings of the ’Ndrangheta, which until this week was estimated to earn as much as £49billion a year. The gang, whose name translates as society of men of honour, have for decades reigned in the region, the toe of Italy’s boot, controlling more than 80% of Europe’s cocaine trade.

They would intimidate rivals by dumping on their doorsteps goat heads, dead puppies, and even a dead dolphin. Ambulances were used to move drugs, council water supplies were diverted to irrigate fields of marijuana and cemetery chapels were used to hide weapons.

Luigi Mancuso is said to be a leading figure in the 'Ndrangheta (Handout)

Mobsters had nicknames such as The Wolf, Fatty, Shorty, Sweety and Lamb Thigh. But their crimes were far from comical. Mother of three Maria Chindamo, was murdered and her body fed to pigs by a ’Ndrangheta member after she refused to sell her land.

The group has been terrorising southern Italy for centuries, first mentioned in 1792 when a Kingdom of Naples report said "the murders, thefts, the kidnappings were infinite". It wasn’t until the 1970s that the ’Ndrangheta expanded into illegal cigarette contraband.

'Ndrangheta boss Ernesto Fazzalari (Alamy Stock Photo)

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Over the next two decades it became famous for more than 200 kidnappings of rich Italians, including oil tycoon John Paul Getty, who had his severed ear posted to a newspaper in 1973. By the 1990s, it started to invest in the drug trade, importing cocaine from Colombia.

They were classified as a mafia in 2010, when they were also branching out into out crimes like extortion, loan sharking, gambling and prostitution. While Sicily’s famous Cosa Nostra, the Camorra of Naples were challenged in the 1980s and 90s, the ’Ndrangheta managed to gradually take over.

Maria Chindamo was tragically killed by the 'Ndrangheta and fed to pigs (Sean Hughes)

One of the secrets to its success lies in how deeply it is embedded in Calabria, a mountainous area where it is almost impossible for police to swoop on suspects without being spotted. The group is made up of many smaller clans, called ’ndrina, based almost exclusively on blood ties.

Dr Zora Hauser, a mafia researcher at Oxford University, says: "The fact that they recruit among their own family has been very effective in avoiding detection. Even if you want to get out of your clan, you won’t want to give evidence against your brothers and sisters, your father or mother."

The moment one of the many members of the Italian criminal organisation Ndrangheta Vittorio Raso was arrested (Newsflash)

The ’Ndrangheta kept its family-based network as it expanded overseas. Setting up a cell abroad requires the approval of the crimine di San Luca – a committee made up of seven elders in Calabria. It is now the only mafia present on every continent, with groups as far as Canada and Australia. Their tentacles are also believed to reach the UK, with probes tracing ‘Ndrangheta’s billions to the City.

Collectively the mafia members face over 2,000 years behind bars (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

This week’s trial, however, is a sign that things might be changing. Dozens of informants finally betrayed the organisation’s strict code of silence and provided evidence bosses. They included Luigi ‘The Surpreme’ Mancuso, known as The Uncle.

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It took the panel of three female judges almost two hours just to read out the sentences passed for the 338 defendants (AP)

Dr Hauser says the fact younger family members have snitched could be a turning point. She says: "The number of collaborators who helped the police is quite exceptional, and they are mostly from the younger generation. It might be that times are changing and younger members are less com-mitted than generations before them."

Matt Roper