Hundreds of defendants go on trial as Italy’s largest mafia court case in decades starts

Focus is largely on alleged connivance among mobsters and local politicians, public officials and businessmen

Italy’s largest mafia trial in decade has kicked off in Calabria (AP)

Italy has kicked off its largest mafia trial in decades, involving more than 320 suspected mobsters and associates.

The defendants are facing a host of charges, including extortion, drug trafficking and theft, as part of the case targeting the ’Ndrangheta clan, known as the most powerful mafia group in the country.

Many of the accused in the “maxi-trial” are lawyers, accountants, local politicians, businessmen and other white-collar workers who the chief prosecutor, Nicola Gratteri, said willingly aided the ’Ndrangheta in building its crime empire.

The trial is taking place in a converted call centre in an industrial park in Lamezia Terme, a city in Calabria – the southern Italian region where the clan is based. 

The ’Ndrangheta has quietly amassed power in Italy as the Sicilian Mafia lost its influence, and has exploited huge cocaine revenues to extend its criminal reach across Europe and beyond.

The new trial, which started on Wednesday, is the first time in more than three decades that hundreds of alleged mafiosi have been tried in Italy.

In 1986, hundreds were put on trial in Palermo in a case that represented a turning point in the fight against the Cosa Nostra mafia clan in Sicily.

The Calabrian trial will focus primarily on one group, the Mancuso clan from the province of Vibo Valentia, leaving much of the ’Ndrangheta’s top hierarchy untouched.

The focus is largely on the alleged connivance among mobsters and local politicians, public officials and businessmen.

The state will call on 913 witnesses and draw on 24,000 hours of intercepted conversations to support the myriad charges. Mr Gratteri said he expected that the trial would take a year to complete, with the court due to sit six days a week.

“In the last two years we have seen a surge in lawsuits from oppressed entrepreneurs and citizens, victims of usury, people who for years have lived under the threats of the ’Ndrangheta,” said the prosecutor, who has spent decades fighting the mob.

The bunker where the trial is taking place is so vast, there are video screens on the ceiling so that participants can better view the proceedings, and a sea of tables for about 600 lawyers.

Another 92 suspects have opted for a fast-track trial in the same case, with their hearings due to start later in January, while a much smaller group of defendants will stand trial in February over five murders, including the killing of a mafia hitman who was shot dead because he was gay, prosecutors said.

As Italy grapples with the coronavirus and the impact of restrictions to contain it, The Independent has reported on warnings organised crime groups could take advantage of rising poverty for their own gain. 

Additional reporting by agencies