Rome, Italy/Brussels, Belgium
Reuters
Police across Europe arrested more than 100 people on Wednesday in a massive crackdown that targeted the Italian ‘Ndrangheta mafia, with suspects accused of drugs and weapons trafficking with counterparts in Latin America.
“Today’s raids are one of the largest operations carried out so far in the fight against Italian organised crime,” said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, adding they had “dealt a serious blow to the `Ndrangheta.”
Belgian prosecutors Eric Snoeck, Sophie Lever, Antoon Schotsaert, Eric Van Duyse and Guido Vermeiren give a news conference following a series of police raids targeting the Calabrian mafia as part of an operation in several European countries, in Brussels, Belgium, on 3rd May, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Johanna Geron
QUICK FACTS – THE ‘NDRANGHETA: ITALY’S MOST POWERFUL MAFIA GROUP
Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta has supplanted Sicily’s Cosa Nostra as the country’s most powerful mafia organisation, and has spread across Europe and the rest of the world. Here are a few facts about the fearsome group.
Origin, celebrity kidnapping and cocaine
The ‘Ndrangheta originates from Calabria, the impoverished southern region at the tip of Italy’s boot. Its name is believed to come from the ancient Greek words “andros” and “agathos”, meaning brave or valiant man. It expanded substantially from the 1970s onwards, when it reinvested ransom money from kidnappings – one of its main activities at the time – into public work projects and drug trafficking, especially cocaine. The ‘Ndrangheta kidnapped dozens of high-profile victims, including celebrities such as John Paul Getty III, the scion of the US oil family, abducted in Rome in 1973 and held prisoner for five months in the Calabrian mountains. Getty’s right ear was cut off to pressure his family into paying a reported $US3 million – a story that was fictionalised in the Ridley Scott film “All the Money in the World” and in the Danny Boyle TV series Trust.
Power and wealth
In its latest six-monthly report, Italy’s Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA) calls the ‘Ndrangheta “the absolute dominant force in the criminal world” well beyond its home turf of Calabria. Its strength lies in its capacity to rely on traditional clan and family loyalties while having “maximum flexibility” in exploring new business opportunities in the legal and illegal economy, the DIA said. In 2008, Italian research group Eurispes valued the ‘Ndrangheta’s annual turnover at a staggering €44 billion, about three per cent of Italy’s gross domestic product at the time. The estimate has since been disputed by some experts, but most agree that the Calabrian mob is extremely powerful and wealthy, largely thanks to its role as a major smuggler of cocaine from Latin America to Europe. The DIA said it also makes money from illegal waste trafficking, racketeering and loan sharking, typically offering credit to struggling businesses and then gradually taking over control of them.
International reach
The ‘Ndrangheta is known to have an established presence as far as Canada and Australia, as well as in most of Western Europe, with local cells that usually retain strong links with their Calabrian homeland. Italian prosecutors and investigators routinely complain that their European counterparts underestimate the extent to which the Calabrian mob has infiltrated their countries, and say all EU nations should copy Italy’s tough anti-mafia laws. Nevertheless, pan-European operations against the ‘Ndrangheta – like the “Eureka” raid that led to more than 100 arrests on Wednesday and which alleged that mobsters used Chinese money brokers – have become more common. Italian authorities also made domestic progress against the ‘Ndrangheta, for example in 2021 with the launch of a so-called “maxi-trial” against more than 320 suspected mobsters and associates, including top boss Luigi Mancuso. Judges later decided to have a separate trial for Mancuso, which is still ongoing.
The San Luca feud
In Germany, the ‘Ndrangheta notably made headlines in 2007, when six men were shot outside a pizzeria in the western city of Duisburg as part of a long-running war between rival mafia clans. The notorious San Luca feud between the Pelle-Vottari and Nirta-Strangio families started with a carnival prank in 1991 that prompted a string of killings, including the 2006 Christmas Day execution of the wife of a Strangio family mobster.
– ALVISE ARMELLINI/Reuters
The swoop was part of an investigation spanning Italy, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Romania, Brazil and Panama, according to European Union law enforcement agency Europol.
The network was devoted primarily to international drug trafficking from South America to both Europe and Australia, Europol said in a statement.
The network used Chinese money brokers in Italy and Colombia to arrange for funds to be moved to pay for drug deals, Italian police commander Massimiliano D’Angelantonio told a news conference.
The ‘Ndrangheta clans were also involved in running weapons from Pakistan to South America, supplying Brazilian criminal group PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) in exchange for cocaine shipments, Europol added.
The ‘Ndrangheta, which has its roots in the southern Italian region of Calabria, has surpassed Cosa Nostra as the most powerful mafia group in the country, and one of the largest criminal networks in the world.
Some of the ‘Ndrangheta families targeted have been involved in clan feuds culminating in mass shootings, including the killing of six people in the German city of Duisburg in 2007, according to Europol.
Ice cream parlour
Profits were recycled through real estate, restaurants, hotels, car wash companies, supermarkets, and other commercial activities.
In Germany, investigators targeted an ice cream parlour in the northwestern town of Siegen, which they suspected was being used to launder money and as a strategic hub for the ‘Ndrangheta.
Investigator Oliver Huth told reporters they found Italians from Calabria there, some of whom were believed to be involved in drugs while others had links to killings or murders. The cafe has been shut down.
Assets worth €25 million were seized in Italy, Germany, Portugal and France in “Operation Eureka”, launched in 2019 initially to investigate drug smuggling between Calabria and the Belgian city of Genk, according to Italian police.
“We think that among the arrests were several persons of a high value who played a huge role in the organisation, not only in Belgium but in other European countries,” said Belgian federal prosecutor Antoon Schotsaert.
Belgian police said they had arrested 13 people.
A total of 108 people were arrested in Italy and other EU countries on the orders of police in the southern city of Reggio Calabria, Italian police said.
Related investigations led to the arrest of 24 people in Germany, they said, as well as a further 53 detentions in northern Italy. The interior minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia said 18 of the arrests were made there.
