- A judge in Italy convicted 70 defendants in one of the largest mafia trials in the country’s history, which involved the “Ndlangueta family”.
- The weekend trial involved 91 defendants and the key’Ndrangheta members were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
- Of the 19 people who were acquitted during the trial, most were marginal suspects.
Rome-In one of the largest mafia trials in the country’s history, an Italian judge found 70 defendants guilty in the first sentence.
The case involved the’Ndrangheta clan, which is headquartered in Boots Calabria, Italy. It is considered by prosecutors to be the most powerful mafia group in the country and easily defeated the more famous Cosa Nostra gang in Sicily.
The expedited trial over the weekend involved 91 defendants and allowed those convicted to have their sentences reduced by a third.
Prosecutors revealed that some of them were key members of “Ndrangheta” and were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Chief Public Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri stated that the first verdict laid the foundation for a wider litigation involving another 300 suspects, which began in January in Lamezia Terme, Calabria.
The thugs face charges including racketeering, drug trafficking and theft.
Gratteri, one of the most respected anti-mafia judges in the country, said:
We continue our work with the calm and firmness required for such an important experiment.
He added that most of the 19 people who were acquitted during the trial were marginal suspects.
The last time hundreds of Mafia were tried simultaneously in Italy was in Palermo, Sicily, in 1986. This case represented a turning point in the struggle against Cosa Nostra and also marked the beginning of the organization’s rapid decline.
The Calabria trial involved a large number of white-collar workers, unlike the Palermo case, which was not aimed at the top of the “Ndlangueta clan”.
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