‘Ndrangheta: 207 gang members sentenced to total of 2,200 years in jail after one of Italy’s biggest mafia trials
Over 200 gang members have been sentenced to a total of more than 2,200 years after one of the biggest mafia trials in Italian history.
Some 338 defendants were accused of being members of the powerful crime group, ‘Ndrangheta, with the trial ongoing since January 2021.
Founded in the 18th century in Calabria, it has grown to become one of the world’s most powerful, extensive and richest criminal organisations.
‘Ndrangheta is the only mafia to be active in every continent, is said to control 80% of Europe’s cocaine trade, and has an estimated annual turnover of £52bn.
The three-year trial involved mafiosi, entrepreneurs and politicians, and included charges of murder, corruption, drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion.
Since retiring last month to consider their verdicts, the three judges had to live in a safe house under police protection.
Some 67 defendants were already found guilty after opting for a speedy trial, and 131 people have now been acquitted
Officials listen as the judges read the verdicts. Pic: AP
A large bunker courtroom was built in Lamezia Terme, Italy, to hold the trial. Pic: AP
Among those convicted were Domenico Tomaino, known as ‘The Wolf’, who got 17 years; ‘Fatty’ Francesco Barbieri, who got 24 years; and Vincenzo Barba, known as ‘The Musician’, who was sentenced to 28 years.
Ex-Forza Italia MP Giancarlo Pittelli, one of the most high-profile defendants, received 11 years for being a mafia go-between.
The bosses of two ‘Ndrangheta clans, Saverio Razionale and Domenico Bonavota, both got 30 years, according to Italy‘s ANSA news agency.
Several dozen informants betrayed the organisation and its strict code of silence to provide evidence for the prosecution.
‘The Uncle’
The ‘maxi trial’ focused on one of the ‘Ndrangheta’s key families, the Mancusos, and their associates.
The man said to be the family’s ‘Godfather’ figure, Luigi Mancuso, known as ‘The Uncle’, is due to face a separate trial. His nephew has already given evidence against the organisation.
Luigi Mancuso is said to be a leading figure in the ‘Ndrangheta Pic: Police handout
Special forces and elite units hit the ‘Ndrangheta in December 2019, with around 3,000 officers raiding 12 Italian regions and also making arrests in Germany, Switzerland and Bulgaria.
Millions of euros worth of properties and cash were seized, while 300 suspects were detained.
The 2019 operation was named Rinascita-Scott, referring to the rebirth of the region – ‘rinascita’ in Italian – and to US special agent Scott W Sieben, who helped Italian police discover links between Colombia’s cartels and the ‘Ndrangheta.
The chief prosecutor who led the huge investigation was Nicola Gratteri, who organised the building of a bunker courtroom to hold the trial.
Read more:
Nicola Gratteri – the mafia’s most wanted man
Mr Gratteri, who is Italy’s most famous anti-mafia prosecutor, has been living under police protection for 34 years.
At the start of the hearing, he told Sky News he would not be intimidated by the many death threats and assassination plots against him.
In August, while Sky News was given rare access to Italy’s hidden mafia war, Mr Gratteri said that if he were to die tomorrow, “it wouldn’t be a problem for me”.
Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri has been under police protection for 34 years
“To live a hundred years as a coward is meaningless,” he said. “Instead, I have lived as a man.”
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently said Italy now has the most effective tactics in fighting organised crime.
“We have an extremely changeable enemy and the fight against the mafia is a cornerstone of this government,” she said.
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
World
Israeli soldiers ‘psychologically broken’ after ‘confronting the reality’ in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
Read more:
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
British surgeons on life in Gaza
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike