Italy on Saturday struck an early blow against the country’s powerful ’Ndrangheta organized crime group, convicting 70 mobsters and others in a first, crucial test of the largest mafia trial in more than three decades.
Judge Claudio Paris read out verdicts and sentences against 91 defendants in the massive courtroom in the Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme.
While 355 people have yet to be judged in proceedings that are expected to last two years or longer, those judged on Saturday had opted for a speedy trial.
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That procedure, which took place behind closed doors, allowed them to have one-third of their sentence shaved off if they were convicted.
Since January, a specially adapted courtroom has hosted the “maxi-trial” of hundreds of suspects affiliated with the ’Ndrangheta, the country’s richest and most powerful mafia group.
Famed anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri — whose efforts to defeat the ’Ndrangheta have caused him to live under police escort for more than 30 years — said that the sentencing had gone “very well.”
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“Out of 91 defendants, there were 70 presumed innocent who were convicted,” Gratteri told Italian news agency AdnKronos, adding that those acquitted had been minor players.
Some of the group’s most dangerous members received the maximum 20-year sentence requested by prosecutors. They included Domenico Macri of the group’s military wing; Pasquale Gallone, the right-hand man of alleged mob boss Luigi Mancuso, whose trial is still pending; and Gregorio Niglia, whose role included procuring weapons and extortion.
About one-third of the group received sentences of 10 years or more, while 21 people were acquitted, seven at the request of prosecutors, Gratteri said.
The ’Ndrangheta, which is entrenched in Italy’s poorest region of Calabria in the toe of the peninsula’s boot, has surpassed Sicily’s Cosa Nostra in power and wealth. The group controls the bulk of the cocaine smuggled into Europe.
The biggest fish in the case have opted for the more lengthy trial, namely Mancuso “The Uncle,” 67, considered the leader of the ’Ndrangheta families who dominated the Vibo Valentia province of Calabria, and former senator and lawyer Giancarlo Pittelli, 68, accused of being Mancuso’s white-collar fixer.
Eight defendants in the fast-track trial faced up to 20 years: Of the eight, six received the full sentence. They included Gallone, 62, who helped keep his boss, Mancuso, on the run for three years, beginning in 2014. Mancuso had only recently been released from prison after serving 19 years.
The ’Ndrangheta has about 150 families, who are supported by at least 6,000 members and affiliates in Calabria, swelling to thousands worldwide, experts have said.
Its reach is international, with illegal gains invested in the legitimate economy. Its ability to infiltrate nearly all segments of public administration back home in Calabria has allowed it to reap lucrative contracts and cement its power.
Charges in the case include association with mafia, attempted murder, money laundering, usury, drug dealing, extortion and illegal weapons possession.
The maxi-trial, which is being held in a sprawling courtroom to accommodate the hundreds of lawyers involved, features more than 900 prosecution witnesses and 58 state witnesses.
Eclipsing the current trial in size was Italy’s legendary maxi-trial of 1986 to 1987, which dealt a major blow to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, with 338 people convicted.
Anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were later assassinated by the mob.
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