>>15303811
#12501761 at 2021-01-13 18:35:26 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #15961: Our Unalterable Resolution Should Be To Be Free Edition
Italy: Biggest Mafia Trial Since the 1990s Begins
In Italy's southern region of Calabria, a court had to requisition a local call centre to make room for355defendants, 900 witnesses and 700 lawyers in what will be the largest mafia trial the country had seen has seen in nearly three decades, AFP reported.
Nicola Gratteri, the chief prosecutor heading the trial has become a sort of folk hero in Italy. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)Nicola Gratteri, the chief prosecutor heading the trial has become a sort of folk hero in Italy. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)the defendants are all alleged members of 'Ndrangheta, one of Italy's four major mafia-type groups, and in particular the Mancuso family.
"the Mancuso are one the biggest players in the 'Ndrangheta," Sergio Nazzaro, an Italian journalist, writer and adviser to the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, told OCCRP on Wednesday. "they are extremely violent, ruthless and have deep connections to all the worlds of power that they can corrupt."
the proceedings recall famous 'maxi trials' of the 1980s and early 90s, which took on 475 members, including 19 bosses, of the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra, and brought to heel the infamous Corleonesi clan which had controlled the island.
However, it also kicked off an unprecedented period of mafia-sponsored terror, culminating in the assassination of prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.
Though the 'Ndrangheta's history stretches back as far as the Napoleonic age, it outpaced its Sicilian counterparts as Italy's most powerful criminal group.in the 1990s.
Engaged in everything from narcotics to arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and tender fraud, the Calabrian syndicate's activities are believed to account for 5% of Italy's total GDP, despite being based out of one of the country's poorest regions.
Among the 355 defendants whose trial started on Wednesday are the family's boss, Luigi Mancuso, known as "the Uncle,'' who has already spent two decades in prison. His associates on the stand bear similarly colorful nicknames like "the Wolf", "Fatty", "Sweetie", "Blondie", "Little Goat", and "the Wringer".