Over 200 individuals were sentenced in Italy on Monday to prison terms of up to 30 years in a landmark maxi-trial targeting the ‘Ndrangheta, the country’s most powerful mafia.
The accused faced charges at the Lamezia Terme court in southern Italy. A total of 207 defendants were found guilty and sentenced, while 131 were acquitted.
The prosecutor had sought nearly 5,000 years of imprisonment overall for both the mobsters and their white-collar accomplices, including local officials and even high-ranking police officers.
The sentences granted by Judge Brigida Cavasino ranged from several months in prison to hefty 30-year sentences given to four of the accused.
Prominent defendant and former senator, 70-year-old Giancarlo Pittelli, received an 11-year sentence. The prosecutor had sought a 17-year one.
Based in Calabria, an impoverished region in the extreme south of Italy, the ‘Ndrangheta is the richest and most powerful of the Italian mafias. Operating in about 40 countries, it maintains a suffocating influence at home, infiltrating and corrupting administration while imposing its iron law on the population.
Starting in January 2021, three judges spent thousands of hours hearing witness statements, including from about 50 repentant mobsters-turned-informants, about the activities of the Mancuso family and its associates – a major ‘Ndrangheta clan in control of Vibo Valentia province.
This high-profile trial, held in a bunker-like high-security court in Lamezia Terme, represents the most significant mafia trial in over three decades.
The charges ranged from mafia association, drug trafficking and extortion, to usury and money laundering.
During the trial, the defendants detailed the violent workings of the ‘Ndrangheta, their hold on the local population, extortion, tampering with public tenders and elections, and illegal arms acquisition, among other crimes.
