'Ndrangheta

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The 'Ndrangheta [ (n) ˈdraŋɡeta ] is the association of the Calabrian Mafia , whose radius of action includes all of Europe , North and South America as well as Russia and Australia . With an estimated 54 billion euros in annual sales (2013), the 'Ndrangheta has been the most powerful Mafia organization in Europe since the mid-1990s. The most important sources of income are drug trafficking and illegal waste disposal , especially toxic waste . It controls large parts of the cocaine trade in Europe.

organization

Origins and name

Calabria in Italy

The roots of the 'Ndrangheta go back to the second half of the 19th century. It was then called Picciotteria and thrived in rural areas. It is believed that it originated from brigands and rebels in the parishes of Platì and San Luca . Most of the income came from extortion and kidnapping . The origin of the name is not entirely clear. He could from the spoken in parts of Calabria Greek-Calabrian dialect originate and be related to Greek ἀνδραγαθία andragathía "heroism, virtue" or ἀνδράγαθος andrágathos "heroic, virtuous," composed of ἀνήρ Aner (genitive ἀνδρός Andros ) "man" and ἀγαθός agathos "Well". The omission of initial vowels is a common phenomenon in southern Italian dialects. The Calabrian writer Corrado Alvaro first used the word 'Ndrangheta in front of a wider public in September 1955 in the Corriere della Sera . In a confiscated Mafia villa in Reggio Calabria , the Museo della 'ndrangheta is dedicated to the documentation and research of the' Ndrangheta.

Fields of employment

Metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria

According to European drug investigators, the 'Ndrangheta is the most important group in the European cocaine trade, even ahead of the Colombian drug cartels . The dominance of the 'Ndrangheta is largely due to the fact that they managed to usurp parts of the business when the Sicilian Cosa Nostra came under pressure in the 1990s.

According to a 2014 report by the Anti-Mafia Commission, the strength of the 'Ndrangheta lies in both their economic power and their strong political influence. When it comes to drug trafficking, the 'Ndrangheta has no opponents: It cooperates with the South American cartels and often works in close association with American mafia clans or the American Cosa Nostra . Operation New Bridge, for example, revealed the connection between the Ursino clan from Marina di Gioiosa Ionica and the Gambino family from New York City .

Other major sources of income are the arms trade , money laundering and extortion . It is considered to be the economically strongest syndicate and probably had sales of around 53 billion euros in 2013, which is around 2.7 percent of Italy's gross domestic product. Drug trafficking is the largest source of income, followed by illegal waste disposal. Nowadays (as of 2013) protection rackets, illegal gambling, human trafficking, prostitution and brand counterfeiting are of less importance.

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Through emigrants, the 'Ndrangheta has “branches” in Europe, South America, Russia, the USA, Canada and Australia. The organization has 400 leaders in 30 countries. A total of around 60,000 people around the world are involved in the activities of the 'Ndrangheta. Germany and the Benelux countries are particularly affected.

The crimes of August 2007, known as the Duisburg mafia murders , in which six Italians were killed, aroused media interest. These were the first murders of this scale carried out by the 'Ndrangheta abroad. In an interview with Spiegel on August 19, 2008, however , a godfather said that the murders were not a feud, but that a split within society should be prevented. In order to hoist Nicola Di Girolamo , who is loyal to 'Ndrangheta, into the Roman Senate in the 2008 election, the Calabrian mafia organization obtained blank ballot papers from Italians, mainly in Stuttgart, and forged them in favor of the alleged Italian foreigner Di Girolamo. A center of the 'Ndrangheta in Germany is the gastronomy in Erfurt , whose main actors come from the village of San Luca (as of 2015). Clans from Calabria are also active in the Stuttgart area and in northern Hesse, as the "Stige" police operation has shown. In North Rhine-Westphalia, 'Ndrangheta has bases for international drug trafficking (as of 2020).

Structure and rules

In contrast to the Cosa Nostra, the 'Ndrangheta is structured horizontally and currently has around 60,000 members, it includes around 90 clans or Cosche (named after the Sicilian word for the artichoke , which is supposed to stand as a symbol of solidarity ) like the Tegano family . Compared to the Cosa Nostra, membership in the 'Ndrangheta is based far more on consanguinity . The individual members call themselves 'ndrinu and the clan itself ' ndrina . If an 'Ndrina wants to expand, one of her wives has to marry into another family - this also happens against the will of the woman. If several 'Ndrine (plural for' Ndrina) come together, they are referred to as locale .

Structure of the 'Ndrangheta

Dominion pyramid

The breakdown takes place within the structure.

  1. Capo Provincia coordinates the locali, guards the traditions and resolves internal conflicts.
  2. Capobastone: stands at the head of an 'Ndrina and determines the life and death of a member.
  3. Contabile: manages the finances of the 'Ndrina.
  4. Capo Crimine: plans and coordinates.
  5. 'Ndrinu is a simple member. Also called 'Ndranghetisti' in the vernacular .

The consanguinity is thanks to a greater cohesion: So far, 157 key witnesses have left the organization (for comparison: in Sicily there were around 390). A new investigation known as "Operation Crimine" ended in July 2010 with the arrest of 305 'Ndranghetisti. In the words of public prosecutor Piero Grasso, Italy's head of anti-mafia, the 'Ndrangheta is extremely “hierarchical, united and pyramidal” and not just clan-based.

The center of the organization is still in Calabria in the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria and the province of Crotone . Similar to the small town of Corleone in Sicily, there is a village in Calabria that is known as the stronghold of the 'Ndrangheta: Platì at the foot of the Aspromonte mountains . The village is said to have underground passages and chambers with camouflaged or hidden doors that allow members of the clan to disappear in case of danger.

Admission ritual

In the area around Lecco , a city in the north of Milan in rich Lombardy , the police succeeded in secretly filming the initiation rite of the 'Ndrangheta during a dinner in a restaurant in May 2014.

The greeting was: “ Buon vespero e santa sera ai santisti. ”(German:“ A good dinner and a blessed night to our holy brothers. ”) Santisti is a hierarchical name of the 'Ndrangheta. Then the Italian national heroes Garibaldi , Mazzini and La Marmora are called. The chair continued: “I humbly participate in holy society. Repeat after me: 'I swear I deny everything. Up to the seventh generation. [...] To keep the honor of my wise brothers. Under the light of the stars and the beauty of the moon I form the sacred chain. ”At the end the three national heroes are called again. The newly admitted must promise that they will either kill themselves with poison or shoot themselves in the event of serious misconduct. "It is not people who judge you, but you yourself. You always have to have a ball for yourself".

The oaths differ from clan to clan, but the swearing is always the same.

The seven principles

The 'Ndrangheta should function according to these rules:

  • Umiltà - humility towards others ("honorable ones " and the population)
  • Fedeltà - Unrestricted loyalty, breakage of which is punishable by death
  • Politica - secret language between the “honorable”, where telling the truth is the top priority
  • Falsa Politica - language used for police officers and traitors who are never allowed to know the truth
  • La Carta - All important events are recorded
  • Il Lapis - The boss is obliged to keep a secret chronicle
  • Il Coltello - (literally: the knife) The interests of the organization come first and are protected with threats of death

The application of the principles means Efferatezza (German "cruelty") towards those affected, as their human rights are disregarded.

story

As early as 1861 officials of the new Italian national state in Calabria discovered the existence of this secret organization. Even then, the 'Ndrangheta appeared to be well organized. But all attempts by the state to destroy their power failed. The members of the 'Ndrangheta are all related by blood. Traditionally, kidnappings and racketeering have been the main sources of income.

Under the fascist rule of Mussolini it was not possible to put an end to these criminal organizations, even if the Italian mafia as a whole came under great pressure at the time. After the Second World War , the organizations quickly adapted to the new times. However, the judicial authorities do not assume that there will be a regional government of the 'Ndrangheta, which rules the organization according to the “leader principle”, so to speak. Rather, it is a decentralized management based on the “federal” principle. Kinship ties between the members of the individual local groups play a stronger role than with the Sicilian Mafia and the Camorra . For decades, the 'Ndrangheta benefited from the fact that it was considered by the state authorities to be more harmless than the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra. The Cosa Nostra was indeed the most powerful Mafia organization until the 1990s, but when it came under increasing pressure after 1992, the 'Ndrangheta was able to take its place in many ways. This not least led to the fact that the 'Ndrangheta last shot the uncomfortable politician Francesco Fortugno in front of a polling station in 2005 .

In the 1960s, the 'Ndrangheta spread to northern Italy and especially abroad. In doing so, she gradually changed her "business model": fewer kidnappings, instead drug trafficking and prostitution, money laundering and involvement with politics.

Disagreements over the distribution of revenue led to the first 'Ndrangheta conflict between 1974 and 1976 , in which 233 people were killed. This war upset the balance in the triumvirate - consisting of Antonio Macrì , Domenico Tripodo and Girolamo Piromalli - which had ruled the 'Ndrangheta for 15 years. This fact facilitated the rise of a new generation of 'Ndranghetisti, such as the rising De Stefano' ndrina . From the 1980s onwards, the 'Ndrangheta increasingly made their living from toxic waste and the business became one of their main sources of money.

The second 'Ndrangheta conflict ran from 1985 to 1991. The bloody six-year conflict in which the clans of Pasquale Condello , Antonio Imerti , Paolo Serraino , Diego Rosmini and the clans of De Stefano' ndrina, Giovanni Tegano , Domenico Libri and Antonino Fighting Latella resulted in more than 600 deaths. The Cosa Nostra contributed to an end to the conflict and suggested setting up a collegial body, similar to the Sicilian Mafia Commission or cupola , in order to be able to decide on future changes in the organization and to contain internal power struggles. This facility is called La Provincia , also known as camera di controllo , or camera di canalizzazione and consists of the leading 'Ndranghetisti.

In 1998 the German police arrested one of the clan's hired killers, Giorgio Basile . Since then he has testified against the organization several times. Investigations that led to the arrest of numerous members of the 'Ndrangheta in 2010 revealed that a control group comparable to the Mafia has now formed. A special group within the organization should represent the members active in the north of Italy ( Lombardia ).

Despite this, the Italian state tried again and again to master the situation. For example, in 2003 a total of over 1000 police officers stormed the community of Platì , and 131 suspects were arrested. On July 17, 2007, an influential leader of a 'Ndrangheta clan - Giuseppe Bellocco - was caught in a large-scale operation.

Investigations in connection with the Mafia murders in Duisburg on August 15, 2007 showed that the 'Ndrangheta now has fixed bases in Germany, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia .

One of the organization's highest-ranking leaders, 57-year-old Pasquale Condello , nicknamed "Il Supremo" ( The Greatest ), was arrested by Italian police on February 19, 2008 in Reggio Calabria. The Italian police arrested seventy-year-old Giovanni Tegano, a leading member of the 'Ndrangheta, in Reggio Calabria in April 2010. Tegano, who was on the run for 17 years, was one of the 30 most wanted criminals in Italy. An international arrest warrant had been in place for him since 1995. He had been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for murder, arms smuggling and the formation of a criminal organization.

On July 13, 2010, 300 'Ndrangheta members were arrested in the largest police operation in 15 years. In the raid with around 3,000 judicial officers, the allegedly highest 'Ndrangheta leader Domenico Oppedisano was caught. The competent court in Reggio Calabria sentenced 93 defendants to prison terms totaling 568 years, including the 65-year-old alleged clan chief Giuseppe Commisso to 14 years and 8 months and the 81-year-old Domenico Oppedisano, who according to the judiciary is the “guardian of the Rules “of the criminal group was to ten years imprisonment.

On November 19, 2011, a mass trial of 119 members of the 'Ndrangheta ended in Milan with 110 convictions. According to the court, they were engaged in criminal business in over 15 regional organizations. The focus of activities was the construction industry. They also tried to influence politics. Alessandro Manno received the highest sentence of 16 years .

On October 11, 2012, it became known that after almost 20 years of fleeing one of the last 'Ndrangheta mafia bosses had been caught: Domenico Condello was arrested in a suburb of the provincial capital Reggio Calabria. After the murder and the burning of a three-year-old in a car , Pope Francis excommunicated all members of the 'Ndrangheta ( Excommunicatio ferendae sententiae ) in June 2014 during his speech in the town of Cassano all'Ionio in the southern Italian region of Calabria , the stronghold of this mafia- Organization. Because they “left the road of goodness”.

On January 30, 2016, the 'Ndrangheta bosses, Giuseppe Crea and Giuseppe Ferraro , who had been wanted for several years , were caught by the Polizia di Stato in a concrete bunker near Maropati . 37-year-old Crea had been on the run for 10 years, 48-year-old Ferraro for 18 years.

Rinascita-Scott

In an action codenamed Rinascita-Scott ( rebirth of Scott - by chief prosecutor Nicola Gratteri chosen name should posthumously died at the 2013 US drug agent Seven William Scott remember) arrested by the Italian authorities in December 2019, several hundred members and supporters of the ' Ndrangheta, mainly of the Mancuso clan from Limbadi .

In January 2021, the resulting Rinascita-Scott trial began in Lamezia Terme with a trial against 350 accused, alleged members and aides of the 'Ndrangheta, one of the largest mafia trials in Italian history. The accused were charged with, among other things, Mafia affiliation, murder, illegal possession of weapons, drug trafficking, extortion and usury.

Film and radio play documentaries

  • The dark business of 'Ndrangheta. Documentary, France, 2008, directed by Agnès Gattegno
  • The law of silence - on the trail of the Mafia in Italy. Documentation, 2008, directed by Antje Pieper .
  • Germany in sight. The secret network of the Calabrian Mafia. Documentation, Germany / Italy, 2008, directors: Christian Gramstadt and Markus Rosch
  • 'Ndrangheta - The bloody business of a mafia. France, 2008, directed by Corradino Durruti
  • In the mafia network - on the trail of the murderers of Duisburg. Documentation, Germany, 2008, directors: Ulrike Brödermann and Philipp Zahn
  • Uomini d'onore. Documentary, Italy, 2009, directed by Francesco Sbano
  • Operation white vest - The advance of the Mafia in Europe. Documentation, Germany / Italy, 2015, directors: Edgar Wolf and Max Löschner
  • The women of the Mafia , original title: Women of Ndrangheta . Documentation, 2016
  • arte theme evening on October 24, 2017: The poison of the Mafia and the European law of silence
  • Deutschlandfunk, radio plays, feature on March 17, 2020 Mafia? - Not with us! The triumphant advance of the ´Ndrangheta in the north

literature

  • Enzo Fantò (Ed.): Massomafia. 'Ndrangheta, politica e massoneria dal 1970 ai giorni nostri. Koinè, Rome 1997, ISBN 88-8106-010-8 .
  • Stefano Morabito (Ed.): Mafia, 'Ndrangheta, Camorra nelle trame del potere parallelo. Gangemi, Rome 2005, ISBN 88-492-0896-0 .
  • Letizia Paoli : Mafia Brotherhoods - Organized Crime, Italian Style, Oxford: UP 2003, ISBN 0-19-515724-9 .
  • Andreas Ulrich: The angel face. The story of a mafia killer from Germany. Goldmann, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-442-12973-7 .
  • Gudrun Dietz: The 'Ndrangheta. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-527-50455-8 .

Web links

Commons : 'Ndrangheta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The initial is given in Calabrian without a preceding vowel.
  2. ↑ Study on 'Ndrangheta: Calabrian Mafia rakes in 53 billion euros a year , March 27, 2014
  3. ^ Italian Organized Crime: Threat Assessment . (PDF) Europol, The Hague, June 2013
  4. ↑ a b Calabria - Police catch Mafia boss in bunker . Spiegel Online , May 10, 2009, SPON / Reuters
  5. ↑ a b Annette Langer : Fight against the 'Ndrangheta - police arrest hundreds of Mafiosi . Spiegel Online , July 13, 2010.
  6. ↑ tagesschau.de: Mammoth trial in Italy: 355 Mafiosi in court. Retrieved January 13, 2021 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h The Mafia, briefly explained: # 2 - The 'Ndrangheta . May 13, 2015
  8. ↑ Giovanni Tizian: "La 'ndrangheta transnazionale: Dalla picciotteria alla santa - Analisi di un fenomeno criminale globalizzato" (PDF) March 2009.
  9. ↑ Fabio Truzzolillo: The 'Ndrangheta: the current state of historical research . In: Modern Italy (August 2011) 16 # 3, pp. 363-383.
  10. ↑ Ndrangheta sales exceed Deutsche Bank and McDonalds. In: ZEIT Online. March 27, 2014, accessed April 8, 2014 .
  11. ↑ 'Ndrangheta achieved more sales in 2013 than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank .
  12. ^ Italian government: Murders of Duisburg a mafia feud . Deutsche Welle , August 15, 2007
  13. ↑ Godfather of the Mafia - We feel very comfortable in Germany . Spiegel Online , August 19, 2008
  14. ^ "The Mafia Coliseum in Stuttgart" , context of the weekly newspaper , May 15, 2011, Die 'Ndrangheta in Stuttgart
  15. ↑ Axel Hemmerling, Fabio Ghelli, Ludwig Kendzia: "Erfurter Gruppe" organizes' Ndrangheta money laundering. In: MDR Thuringia. MDR - Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, November 4, 2015, archived from the original on April 2, 2019 ; accessed on January 26, 2020 .
  16. ↑ David Klaubert: Mafia in Germany: godparents of the province . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed August 10, 2020]).
  17. ↑ David Klaubert: 'Ndrangheta: How the Mafia's cocaine business works . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed August 10, 2020]).
  18. ↑ Death is part of the job . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin , August 10, 2007, interview with Roberto Saviano
  19. ↑ Annette Langer: Study on 'Ndrangheta: Calabrian Mafia rakes in 53 billion euros a year . In: Spiegel Online . March 27, 2014 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 27, 2019]).
  20. ↑ Paoli: Mafia Brotherhoods , p. 32.
  21. ↑ Relazione annuale . (PDF) Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata mafiosa o similare, 30 July 2003.
  22. ↑ 'Ndrangheta mafia structure revealed as Italian police nab 300 alleged mobsters. The Associated Press, csmonitor.com, July 13, 2010.
  23. ↑ The police are filming the Mafia's recording ritual for the first time . November 13, 2014
  24. ↑ Mafia oaths: "By the light of the stars" . 20th November 2014
  25. ↑ The Mafia and its rituals: Blood toll up to "ten commandments" . May 18, 2016
  26. ↑ see the graphic under Loyalty to death. The seven principles of 'Ndrangheta . Spiegel Online , August 15, 2007
  27. ^ Dickie: Mafia Republic: Italy's Criminal Curse , p. 138
  28. ↑ Godfather's arrest fuels fear of bloody conflict . In: The Observer , February 24, 2008.
  29. ↑ Condello, leader pacato e spietato . In: La Repubblica , February 19, 2008.
  30. ↑ Paoli: Mafia Brotherhoods . Pp. 61-62
  31. ↑ Gratteri, Nicaso: Fratelli di Sangue . Pp. 65-68
  32. ↑ Italian police arrest Mafia boss Bellocco. A ten-year escape is over . (tagesschau.de archive), tagesschau , July 17, 2007
  33. ↑ Tobias Piller: 'ndrangheta also stable in Germany. In: FAZ.net . August 14, 2008, accessed August 7, 2015 .
  34. ↑ "Super-Boss" of the Calabrian Mafia arrested . ( Memento of June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) AFP, February 19, 2008
  35. ^ Mass trial in Italy: judge condemns Mafiosi. In: Spiegel Online . March 9, 2012, accessed August 7, 2015 .
  36. ↑ 110 Mafiosi convicted in a mass trial in Milan. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 20, 2011, accessed November 21, 2011 .
  37. ↑ For 20 years wanted Mafia boss captured ( memento from November 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) T-Online, viewed October 11, 2012
  38. ↑ Pope Francis sees Mafiosi as excommunicated . Hamburger Abendblatt
  39. ↑ Ndrangheta in southern Italy: Police track down Mafia bosses in the bunker hideout. N24.de , January 30, 2016, accessed January 30, 2016 .
  40. ↑ 'Ndrangheta, scovati in un bunker e arrestati i superlatitanti Ferraro e Crea. ilmessaggero.it, January 30, 2016, accessed January 30, 2016 .
  41. ↑ https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/dunkle-herrscher-im-kaefig-325532789489
  42. ↑ Mammoth trial against the 'Ndrangheta and 350 suspects - Italy - derStandard.at ›International. In: derstandard.at. Retrieved January 14, 2021 .
  43. ↑ Huge Mafia trial in Italy begins: indictment against the 'Ndrangheta comprises 13,500 pages - Politics - Tagesspiegel. In: tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved January 14, 2021 .
  44. ↑ Italy's largest mafia trial in three decades begins against 'Ndrangheta. In: theguardian.com. Retrieved January 14, 2021 .
  45. ↑ Italy: Hundreds of Mafiosi in the dock at the trial of the 'Ndrangheta. In: DER SPIEGEL. Retrieved January 14, 2021 .
  46. ^ Table of contents ( Memento from December 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) by arte
  47. ^ Table of contents ( Memento from April 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) of the ARD
  48. ↑ program | de - ARTE. August 1, 2012, accessed January 27, 2020 .
  49. ^ Contents of the ZDF