The End of ‘Ndragheta? Italy in the Process of Largest Mafia Trial in Decades
By: Joe Giacalone
“Judges, lawyers, and politicians have a license to steal. We don’t need one.” – Carlo Gambino[1]
The above quote is not meant to be a jab at judges, lawyers, and politicians, but rather to demonstrate a dichotomy between the special powers afforded under legal and political systems to members of the legal and the political community, compared to the members of organized crime syndicates which gained quasi-legislative and judicial powers through illegal means, and created a quasi-government entity. “Steal” may be a harsh word to describe what judges, lawyers, and politicians do, but at a basic, less sophisticated level, the legal system determines claims of rights, while the political system generally creates the laws that the legal system seeks to uphold, resulting in at least the occasional jilted party and a transfer, creation, or prioritization of rights.[2] While there has been long-running tropes about the American Mafia for over one hundred years,[3] the American Mafia has decreased dramatically in operations since the 1970s.[4] The advent of major RICO lawsuits and other criminal prosecution against the Mafia[5] has effectively weakened the Mafia within the United States to a mere fraction of what it once was.[6] This is in stark contrast to Italy, where there has been no major weakening of the Mafia; however, this could be on the verge of dramatically changing. Beginning in January 2021, Italy began the largest criminal trial in the history of its legal system to take on the Calabrian ‘Ndragheta, a sub-unit of the Italian Mafia, and one of the most powerful organized crime groups in the world.[7]
Context is extremely important in explaining the details of the current trial. The ‘Ndragheta is based out of the province of Calabria, Italy, in the south of Italy.[8] It is an ideal breeding ground for organized crime to emerge. Calabria is one of the poorest areas of Italy.[9] It was hit extremely hard during the mass emigration from Italy between 1880-1920, where more than 60% of Italians who left the newly-unified Italy were from the South of Italy.[10] Southern Italy in general was extremely clan-based,[11] and with an extremely high unemployment rate, and particularly high unemployment for young workers, the opportunities to find meaningful work and to advance are more limited than in wealthier places in Italy such as Rome, Milan, or Venice.[12] Calabria has dealt with all of these factors ‘Ndragheta began to make its mark as a major part of the organized crime syndicate in the 1970s, when it began to specialize in kidnappings and was estimated to bring in nearly $100 million USD.[13]
The current trial in Italy is the result of major international cooperation.[14] This trial is the culmination of major police operations between Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Bulgaria to prosecute drug trafficking across Europe.[15] When it comes to the inflow of cocaine into Europe, ‘Ndragheta is the single largest trafficker in Europe, accounting for roughly eighty percent (80%) of all cocaine being trafficked.[16] This near monopoly on the drug trafficking has given the group an incredible amount of dark influence at the national and international levels: the list of defendants in this trial includes longtime Italian MEP Lorenzo Cesa, infamous mobsters, a former Italian senator, and the former Chief of Police of Calabria.[17] The reach of the trial extends from charges for trafficking drugs, as well as other corruption charges, murder, and extortion.[18] Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, known in Italy as a top prosecutor of mafia related crime, is expected to use evidence from up to 913 witnesses and nearly 24,000 wiretapped phone calls from the criminal investigations.[19] There has been no major mafia trial of anywhere near this level since the 1986-1992 trial of organized crime families in Sicily.[20] Unlike that trial, however, this trial focuses solely on the prosecution of the Mancuso Family, only one (albeit a powerful) family within the Calabrian ‘Ndragheta.[21] Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri believes that while this will not result in taking down the entire ‘Ndragheta, it can certainly be a step in the right direction to eliminating organized crime in Calabria.[22] And given the nature of drug trafficking, murder, extortion, and generalized corruption on both the legal system, and the effects of this crime syndicate at the international level, breaking down even one crime organization would be a positive step.
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[1] Author not listed, “Mafia Quotes”, National Crime Syndicate (2020), Mafia Quotes - The Best Extracts From Notorious Mobsters (nationalcrimesyndicate.com).
[2]See, e.g. United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, Article 1, Article 1 (pace.edu) (1980) (the United Nations’ convention determines the rules for the sale of goods internationally for signatory parties.).
[3] Fabio Girelli-Carasi, Anti-Italianism (course materials), City University of New York (2013), Anti-Italianism(cuny.edu).
[4] Peter Reuter, “The Decline of the American Mafia,” national affairs, 58e1a4e749020261593577.pdf (nationalaffairs.com) (pg. 91)
[5] Id.
[6] Tom Kington, “Italy’s Mafia Trial of the Century,” The Times UK, February 6, 2021, Italy’s mafia trial of the century | Magazine | The Times (hereafter “Italy’s Mafia Trial”).
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Statista.com, Share of the population at risk of poverty in Italy in 2019, by region,”
Italy: risk of poverty rate by region | Statista.com.
[10] United States Library of Congress, “The Great Arrival: Italian Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History,” The Great Arrival | Italian | Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress; see also Donna Gabaccia, Italy’s Many Diasporas 58-80, Routledge Press 2000).
[11] See id.
[12] Statista.com, “Italy Regional Unemployment Rate 2020,”
Italy: regional unemployment rate 2020 | Statista.
[13] Author not listed, “Italy ‘Ndragheta group: Biggest mafia trial in decades opens,” BBC News, January 13, 2021,Italy 'Ndrangheta group: Biggest mafia trial in decades opens - BBC News (hereafter “Biggest Mafia Trial in Decades”).
[14] See Italy’s Mafia Trial, supra note 5.
[15] See id.
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] See Biggest Mafia Trial in Decades, supra note 13.
[21] See Italy’s Mafia Trial, supra note 5.
[22] Id.