Vast underground Mafia stronghold found in Calabria
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Italian police have found a complex underground fortress in the mountains of southern Italy that has been used by the local Mafia for decades.
The breakthrough came on Monday with the help of military land surveyors after months of searching. More than one hundred paramilitary police were lowered into the labyrinth one by one after the discovery of the tunnels.
The complex is located underneath the small town of Plati, a stronghold of the Calabrian Mafia known as the 'Ndrangheta. Plati has been called the "cradle of kidnapping" and it is suspected that the mafiosi kept their kidnap victims within the complex.
It is unclear exactly how far the tunnels stretch but they are sophisticated and in some places large enough to drive a lorry through. Most of the passages run parallel to the town's sewer system.
Remote-controlled trap doors lead into houses, some of them uninhabited, enabling the mafiosi to escape from the police at a moment's notice. Some of the tunnels emerge outside the town close to woodland, while others open into animal pens and barns on local farms.
Police were led to the subterranean town after following the 'Ndrangheta boss and accused kidnapper Giuseppe Barbaro underground in December. Mr Barbaro, 45, had spent 15 years on the run.
Mafia farmland and property has often been confiscated over the years. But this operation is the first of its kind.
The 'Ndrangheta, also known as the "Honoured Society", is one of Italy's three Mafias, the others being the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra. It is mainly a family network, linked by blood ties and intermarriage, unlike the Cosa Nostra, which has a pyramid hierarchy.
Because of the strength of its ties, it has proved very hard to penetrate. The 'Ndrangheta's rules of silence, or omerta, and its complex initiation rituals mean it has produced far fewer turncoats than the Cosa Nostra.
Unlike the Cosa Nostra, whose roots are considered to be middle class, the 'Ndrangheta has very humble rural origins. But in recent years, it has moved from cattle rustling and arson to more sophisticated "white-collar crime", thanks to political contacts and involvement in public contracts. Some believe it to be as powerful as its Sicilian counterpart.
The 'Ndrangheta is estimated to have several thousand members and is known to be involved in the drug trade as well as in kidnapping, extortion, theft and counterfeiting. It is known to have links with criminal networks in Canada, Australia, Albania, Montenegro and eastern Europe.
* A little-known leftist group said yesterday that it placed explosive devices at the offices of the carmaker Fiat and of a trade union on Monday, raising fears of a return to political violence in Italy. The Revolutionary Front for Communism sent the claim of responsibility to a Milan-based newspaper in an 11-page document spelling out its political position, police said. Neither device went off.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments