Heavy prison sentences were handed down on Monday in Italy’s biggest mafia trial in more than thirty years (see video above). A court in the southern Italian region of Calabria has convicted about 200 suspects and handed them prison terms totaling 2,200 years. The reading of the verdicts lasted two hours.
The highest sentences were imposed on two bosses of the ‘Ndrangheta, the mafia in Calabria. They were both sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The process took almost three years
The most famous defendant, lawyer and former parliamentarian of the ruling Forza Italia party, Giancarlo Pittelli, was sentenced to eleven years in prison. The public prosecutor had demanded 17 years in prison for him. The process has already lasted two years and ten months.
Prosecutors demanded 5,000 years in prison
The trial in a warehouse-turned-high-security courtroom in the town of Lamezia Terme in the southern Italian region of Calabria has been about the machinations of the ‘Ndrangheta since 2021. The Public Prosecution Service demanded a total of almost 5,000 years in prison for the 322 suspects.
The charges ranged from drug trafficking and forming a mafia organization to money laundering, extortion and attempted murder.
Anti-mafia operation in December 2019
The list of defendants, including politicians, lawyers and businessmen, showed how deeply entrenched the ‘Ndrangheta is in Calabria. The trial is the result of an extensive investigation that led to the arrest of 334 people in December 2019 as part of Italy’s largest anti-mafia operation since the 1980s. Arrests also took place in Germany, Switzerland and Bulgaria, including Calabrian politicians such as a former senator and the mayor of a municipality in Calabria.
The investigation revealed the close involvement of the ‘Ndrangheta in politics. The investigation, called “Rinascita Scott,” focused on Vibo Valentina but expanded to northern Italy.
It was led by Catanzaro’s chief prosecutor, Nicola Gratteri, considered one of the most prominent ‘Ndrangheta experts. He focused on the Mancuso family clan.
The ‘Ndrangheta is one of the most powerful mafia organizations in the world. It dominates the international drug trade, but also makes money through weapons, money laundering and corruption. Experts estimate that the ‘Ndrangheta generates an annual global turnover of between 50 and 100 billion euros.
Source: Krone
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