DREAM / The Prime Minister resigns and wakes up under the Parisian bridge!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the Underworld

2022-11-29 20:18:54Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the
Carabinieri during an action against the 'Ndrangheta

Cosa Nostra may be the most famous criminal group in the world, but they are not the most powerful, thanks to the arrest of big bosses. Once untouchable, Cosa Nostra has fallen in recent years thanks to a relentless war waged by Italian prosecutors and police.

Now the underground world of crime has a new boss: 'Ndrangheta.

This organization, which is more like a secret society, imports 80 percent of the cocaine in Europe from Mexico and Colombia. The Ndrangheta is like an octopus and wherever there is money, you will find its legs.

But how did a ghost organization become so powerful that it controls the European drug market?

Let's get to know the new mobsters operating in the shadows better.

It was born from Cosa Nostra

Initially, the term "mafioso" did not have criminal connotations. It had the meaning "manly", referring to a young man who was suspicious of the central government. The island of Sicily had a history of being ruled by foreign invaders, and these mobsters banded together to protect the people. In the 19th century, feudal barons in need of money sold their lands to private citizens. Since the state had not yet organized a police force on the island, the suddenly wealthy citizens fell prey to bandits.

Mobsters were hired to protect landowners and businesses. Soon, they were also paid to collect debts and enforce contracts. Before long, mobsters realized that they could increase profits by becoming both thugs and protectors.

This was the beginning of "protection" and Mafia activity in Sicily. They called themselves "La Cosa Nostra". Hollywood has made many films about them, including "The Godfather".

But some of these Sicilians were exiled to the impoverished region of Calabria, located at the toe of Italy's boot. They formed a separate Mafia, a secret organization known as the 'Ndrangheta.

Modern times

The Ndrangheta initiated its members to ritually swear to remain silent for life. Membership is concentrated in poor towns and villages such as San Luca, which is the equivalent of Corleone, the Sicilian village made famous in the movie The Godfather.

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the

Its labyrinth of alleyways has long been a place of pilgrimage. Members of rival families meet there for peace summits, especially after the so-called 'Ndrangheta war of 1985-1991 that claimed more than 700 lives.

Until then, Ndrageta's most famous crime was the 1973 kidnapping in Rome of 16-year-old John Paul Getty, the nephew of the world's richest man.

Oil trader Getty, at first refused to pay. But he paid $2.7 million when the gang cut off one of the child's ears.

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the

One of the kidnappers was the well-known bandit Saverio Mammoliti. Nicknamed Playboy, he had flings with a series of beautiful women before being imprisoned for mafia activity. But he escaped from prison in 1972.

He owned local law enforcement agencies in his own pay. He has lived openly without fear of arrest for 20 years. Mammoliti even married his 15-year-old girlfriend in a church near a police precinct. A series of charges brought by prosecutors from outside Calabria were dismissed. In 1975 Mammoliti was arrested for transporting heroin and cocaine. After a mass trial against Ndrageta in 1982 he was sentenced to 33 years, but the sentence was stayed on appeal. Two years later he was charged with murder and his property was confiscated. But the charge was quickly dropped and the property returned to him. Mammoliti and his wife Maria were arrested for corruption in 1992 but quickly released for "lack of evidence".

Within months he was eventually charged with a repeat of previous crimes including one murder, six bombings and 19 robberies. The monster was sentenced to life in prison. After a decade in prison, in 2003 Mammoliti cooperated with the Italian Anti-Mafia, uncovering corruption and illegal businesses. He also admitted that he had been one of the kidnappers in 1973 and that he had cut off the child's ear. The collaboration with Mammolit also led to the discovery of underground fortresses in Calabria.

When Mammoliti returned to the side of the "good guys", the fear of security within the Ndrangheta made the bosses create "La Santa", a secret society within a secret society.

Membership is known only to fellow members and a handful of carefully vetted politicians, apparently connected to the group through Freemasonry. To avoid eavesdropping, they used the whistles used by shepherds in Calabria.

Ndrangheta is now so invisible that it seemed as if for all the world it did not exist. Its influence is particularly strong in Europe, Australia, Canada and America. In America, Ndrangheta is described as "invisible, like the dark side of the moon".

20 unbelievable facts about the lords of the criminal world

1- The Ndrangheta was formed in 1860 by a group of Sicilians expelled from their native island.

2- The group operated mainly within the Calabria region until a mafia war within the organization left 300 dead. A war in 1980 ended with 700 dead.

3- They kidnapped oil tycoon heir John Paul Getty III in 1973.

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the
John Paul Getty III

They got $2.7 million from the Getty family, but only after cutting off the heir's ear.

"Taking hostages for ransom allowed the criminal group to accumulate initial capital and in the 80s they invested in cocaine," explains Ilaria Meli, researcher at the Organized Crime Observatory at the State University in Milan.

4- The group became a major player in the drug market in the 1990s.

Reason? A sharp drop in the price of heroin (their field) forced them to enter the cocaine market. While the Colombian cartels preferred to do business with them rather than their Sicilian counterparts.

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the

5- According to Italian officials, Ndrangheta is estimated to control 80 percent of the cocaine traffic in Europe and is believed to have invested in construction in Italy, Belgium, the USA and Germany.

6- Three percent of Italy's GDP comes from Ndrangheta's actions. This organization already has over 10,000 members worldwide.

7- They are known for their brutal methods

In 1991, three members of the organization killed a butcher in the Taurianova region in broad daylight. They cut off his head with one of his knives and used the severed head for practice in the middle of the village's main square. This is just one of the cases.

8- No witness against them

Before 2008 there were over 1,000 penitents (informants) from the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, 2,000 from the Naples Camorra and only 42 Calabrian Ndrangheta. So, the authorities have not had luck to make the members of 'Ndragheta spy on each other, because all the members of this mafia are family in the full sense of the word, unlike Cosa Nostra which also accepts foreigners as " family".

9- They are related by blood

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the

The organization maintains blood relations among its members, often using marriages. "Only one family has made more than four marriages with another family of the same", an expert told the Guardian. Since membership in 'Ndragheta is limited to relatives, the bosses try to maximize the number of their descendants.

10- Their biggest problem is: "How to invest the money?"

"Today, their problem is that they have more cash than they can use," says Giuseppe Catozzella, an investigative journalist and author of several books on criminal groups.

11- Wealth and power

The Ndrangheta is much richer and has more power. Its interests stretch from Calabria to Colombia and as far as Australia. According to the think-tank organization "Demoskopika", this mafia had 60 billion dollars in income in 2013, much larger than the income of McDonald's and Deutsche Bank combined.

12- They have started working with the Mexican cartels

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the

"The 'Ndrangheta is the perfect example of globalist criminal networks," says Antonio Nicaso, an expert on the group. "They exploited Caribbean immigrants who went to Germany, the US, Australia, Belgium, Colombia and France after the Second World War. They used family proximity to create connections and expand influence throughout the world.” Now they have close cooperation with the Mexican drug cartels.

13- They overtook Cosa Nostra in drug trafficking

Ilaria Meli, researcher at the Organized Crime Observatory at the State University in Milan, says that the Ndrangheta entered the drug trade faster than Cosa Nostra. Their strategy brought billions of dollars to the coffers of the mafia group.

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the

14- Mistakes of Cosa Nostra

The rise of the "Ndrangheta" was also helped by the strategic mistakes of the Sicilian mafia. In the late 1980s, Cosa Nostra launched an "anti-mafia" policy, culminating in the assassination of two leading anti-mafia judges, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, in 1992. The government reacted by moving the military to Sicily and passing a law new that allowed criminals with ties to the mafia to be held in solitary confinement. This damaged the interests of "Cosa Nostra" outside of Sicily, and they began to reorganize only after a few years.

15- Taking over northern Italy (and taking over Europe)

Inside the 'Ndrangheta: 20 Unbelievable Facts About the Lords of the

While the Italian authorities and the media were focused on the Sicilians, the Calabrians gradually spread to the north, which was the stronghold of Cosa Nostra.

In 1994, the four leaders of the main mafias in Italy met in Lake Como to share the market in the north of the country. The 'Ndrangheta took 70 percent of it, as a result of the power and influence it had achieved in just two decades.

16- How those who oppose suffer

The group has a non-negotiable hierarchy structure. When Carmelo Novella, head of the 'Ndrangheta in Lombardy, tried to act independently, he was assassinated in 2008 by one of the mafia leaders in Calabria.

17- Hierarchy

The ranks in the hierarchy of each 'Ndrangheta criminal gang are different. The hierarchy is this:

Giovane d'onore (Young man of honor) . It is not a real rank. It has more to do with the "right of blood", a title that is taken at the moment of birth and which belongs to the children of the Ndrangetistas and then they can take the title of "Uomo d'onore" (Man of honor);

Picciotto d'onore (Soldier of honor) . It is the first real rank of the Ndrangist 'career'. It is about an executor of orders, who must fully obey the orders of those higher up in the hierarchy in order to receive the benefit. The soldiers, in practice, are the legs or rather the body of the Calabrian gang bosses.

Sgarritsta (Little Bosses) are persons used to collect bribes;

Santista (The Saint). The one who gets this rank means that he has progressed a lot in the field of crime, so he gets it for criminal merit.

Quintino (Fifth) is the highest rank a Ndrangist can attain. This is attributed to a limited number of mobsters who are known for their high responsibilities in the organization and who wear a 5-pointed star tattoo.

Associazione (Association). Pino Scriva talks about this rank for the first time. It represents the highest power of the Ndrangheta and is elected collectively. At this level reach the heads of families who are involved in a large number of branches, have alliance and political protection, and who are able to influence not only themselves in their province and area, but also in organizations abroad.

18- "Sorella d'omerta"

Another typical figure of the 'Ndrangeta is that of the "sorella d'omerta" (Omerta-Code of Silence) entrusted to a woman, who has the task of helping the fugitives. But the role of women in the Calabrian mafia does not end there. Since the creation of the Organization in the 800s, women have been part of it. The judges write: "Dressed as men, they participated in theft and other crimes." Today, women collect bribes, own large estates, and maintain connections with escapees and the outside of the prison.

19- Change with Cosa Nostra

'Ndragheta are like a federation of mafia families that have come together to coordinate among themselves, but are generally independent. With Cosa Nostra, if you cut off the head, the body dies. But 'Ndragheta is more like the Hydra in Greek mythology, the many-headed serpent that grew two heads for every one it cut off.

20-The oath

Vangelo (Gospel) is so called because he solemnly swore never to betray the organization, placing one hand on a copy of the Gospel. In 2014, Italian detectives recorded rare footage of a Mafia swearing-in.

In addition to swearing on the Bible, the new members swore in front of a gun and a suicide pill, which they vowed to use if they were ever caught./Vox News

Galeria fotografike (
)


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×