Long read: The law is equal for all, even the mob

10 December 2021

Ariana Piras

(Image courtesy of Unsplash)

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of InQuire Media

This year, the southern Italian region of Calabria has hosted the largest mafia trial in over three decades. Beginning in January 2021, the trial of 355 defendants, including politicians, members of the police and alleged mobsters, is expected to last until 2023.

In a bunker room built specifically for the trial in Lamezia Terme, Calabria, 900 witnesses and 400 lawyers will join the defendants for the largest trial of the ‘Ndrangheta to date. The trial is centred on the Mancuso family whose patriarch, Luigi Mancuso, known as ‘the Uncle’, will be put on trial within the next two years.

So far in the proceedings, 90 defendants have exercised their right to a speedy trial in return for shorter sentences. 70 of the 91 verdicts delivered on 6th November resulted in jail sentences while 21 ‘minor players’ were acquitted.

While some of the more prominent members have been dealt maximum 20-year sentences, the majority of the defendants received decade long prison terms. Among those already sentenced are Pasquale Gallone, the right-hand man to the supposed boss - Luigi Mancuso, and Domenico Macri, a leader of the organisation’s paramilitary wing.

The trial was made possible by the mass arrest of 334 suspected mobsters carried out in December 2019 as part of an extensive police-raid on the mob’s hideouts, located through years’ worth of police wiretaps. The raid, coordinated by anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, saw the arrest of lawyers, accountants, a police chief, the president of the Calabrian mayors’ association, and a former member of the Italian Parliament. The operation was carried out by 2,500 police officers and military agents, as well as the elite police squad, the ‘cacciatori’ [the hunters] who apprehended suspects from hideouts concealed by trapdoors and sliding staircases.

Gratteri, the leading prosecutor and mastermind of the trial, has been living under state protection in a walled compound for more than 30 years as a result of the countless threats made on his life by the mob. Though acknowledging that he is “a man in a cage”, Gratteri affirmed that he is free in his mind, insofar as he refuses to conform and succumb to the power of the mafia.

The ‘Ndrangheta is the largest organised crime group in Italy today, consisting of roughly 150 families and 20,000 members. After practically emerging from the prison system in the 1880s, the ‘Ndrangheta has since eclipsed the more famous Camorra and Cosa Nostra groups in its criminal pursuits. Over the last few decades, the ‘Ndrangheta has infiltrated the narcotics trade and now controls 80% of the European cocaine market. Their success in this area along with racketeering, extortion and various other illegal activities serves as an explanation for their exorbitant annual turnover of €53bn (£44bn), which accounts for 3% of Italy’s GDP.

Italy is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, ranking 52nd out of 180 countries on Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perception Index in, on par with Saudi Arabia. Now a state within the state, the organisation resembles the ancient myth of the hydra; when cut down it will simply grow back stronger. The mafia is older and better established than the state itself, having existed prior to the unification of Italy. Its extermination seems a near impossible task since there are mobsters not only hiding in every corner of Italian society, but also in established cells around the globe.

The organisation’s success so far has largely been credited to the extent of their embeddedness in Calabria, and the secrecy surrounding their operations. Author John Dickie attributed their success to the fact that “fewer of its members turn state’s evidence”, due to their respect for the ‘Omertà’, the infamous code of silence and honour. Due to the unique structure of the ‘Ndrangheta, which is based on blood ties and family clans, informants are few and far between.

However, blood isn’t thicker than police protection and so far, 58 informants have come forward as a result of the large-scale arrests and indictments among members of the organisation. Even Emanuele Mancuso, the nephew of mob boss Luigi Mancuso has collaborated with the police in return for police protection and will soon testify against his uncle.

He decided to turn ‘pentito’ [turncoat] in order to ensure a better future for his 3-year-old daughter, who has been used as a bargaining chip by his wife and family in the hopes of him retracting his damning statements. This cruel bribery paired with testimonies of victims being dissolved in acid, eaten by pigs, and waking up to dead dolphin heads on their doorsteps demonstrates the ruthlessness of the organisations.

The trial is reminiscent of the Cosa Nostra maxi-trial that lasted from 1986 to 1992, which produced guilty verdicts against 338 of 452 defendants and a total of 2665 years of jail sentences for the defendants. Unlike the 1986 trial, the ‘Ndrangheta will focus solely on the Mancuso family, while the Cosa Nostra trial targeted multiple families within the organisation.

The trial also led to the assassinations of the celebrated magistrates Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone. This act of revenge was viewed by Tommaso Buscetta, a former Mafia boss turned informer, as proof of the Cosa Nostra’s demise, as it was too public a statement. Since the mass conviction of Cosa Nostra mobsters in 1992, the organisation has deteriorated due to the massive lack of trust within the group. Prosecutors are hopeful that the ‘Ndrangheta maxi-trial will deliver a similar blow to the Calabrian Mafia and allow Italy to emerge from the ruthless shadow of organised crime.

In spite of this, the question remains of whether the focus on the Mancuso family will simply allow other organised crime groups to flourish and adapt under the radar, as was the case with the previous maxi trial. With all eyes currently fixated on the ‘Ndrangheta, will another mafia discretely takeover, or will this trial be the fatal blow that finally eradicates organised crime in Italy?