Biggest Mafia Trial In 30 Years Starts In Calabria, Italy On Wednesday

BIGGEST Mafia Trial In 30 Years Starts In Calabria, Italy On Wednesday, January 13, in a Converted 1000-seat call-centre

The biggest mafia trial in 30 years is due to start on Wednesday, January 13, in Calabria, Italy, in a building that has been converted from a call-centre into a courtroom seating 1000 people, to include lawyers, judges, prosecutors and the general public.

The trial centres on the secretive ‘NDrangheta criminal organisation, known to be Calabrai’s equivalent of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, with an alleged 355 members of the Calabrian mafia standing trial, along with corrupt politicians, all of whom will be kept locked in cages in the room during the trial.

More than 900 witnesses are lined up to give evidence against the ‘Ndrangheta, reported to be one of the most powerful organisations in the world, with an estimated 6,000 members, and the prosecution can call on 24,000 wiretaps, and recorded conversations to try and back up charges of drug dealing, extortion, and murder.

Chief prosecutor, 62-year-old Nicola Gratteri, “This is the most important maxi-trial since Palermo”, the famous Sicilian mafia trial, about a 2019 operation that involved more than 2,500 police officers arresting alleged mafia members in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Bulgaria, netting a police chief, lawyers, a former senator, councillors and various businessmen, all charged on suspicion of aiding the mob.

The organisation allegedly specialises in trafficking cocaine and is rumoured to be linked to the notorious South American cartels, reckoned to be responsible for supplying as much as 80 per cent of the cocaine in Europe.

__________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to read this news article “Biggest Mafia Trial In 30 Years Starts In Calabria, Italy On Wednesday”.

For more UK daily news, Spanish daily news and, Global news stories, visit the Euro Weekly News home page.