Word: ndrangheta
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...bloody criminal organization 'Ndrangheta, based in Calabria, at the toe of the Italian boot, is today considered the most powerful organized-crime syndicate in Italy, surpassing the legendary Sicilian Mafia after having taken over much of the trafficking of South American cocaine into Europe. With billions in narcodollars, 'Ndrangheta is constantly on the lookout for ways to invest its ill-gotten cash in legitimate enterprises, explains Alberto Cisterna, a Rome-based magistrate who has long followed the Calabrian Mob. He says that high-profile urban centers are actually considered the best places for crooks to simultaneously hide their illicit wealth...
...prosperous, the south beset by poverty, mobsters and bad governance. But it was never that simple, as Amendolara demonstrates. This generally well-run coastal town is in the most troubled southern region of all: Calabria, the toe of the Italian boot, where the baleful influence of the crime syndicate 'Ndrangheta is pervasive, the infrastructure is dismal, and the unemployment rate is 13% - double the national average. Amendolara partakes of some of that woe - it's still underdeveloped and isolated - but not all of it. The mob holds no sway here, and the coastline has so far not been marred...
...failure of the state is on stark display 180 miles (290 km) south of Amendolara in the town of San Luca. This is the heart of 'Ndrangheta country. The Calabrian mob - whose name derives from the Greek word for "honorable man" - controls wide swaths of territory through intimidation and extortion. The payoff has been great: it has grown into a world leader in cocaine trafficking, with an estimated $47 billion in annual revenue. But the toll has been heavy. The "Massacre of Ferragosto" - the gangland killing last Aug. 15 in Duisburg, Germany, of six young men from in and around...
...photographer visiting San Luca were met by a pair of teenagers whizzing past on a moped three times in a five-minute span - staring menacingly and veering closer each time. Resident Luca Giorgi offered a warmer welcome, but his message was ambiguous. "Every time something happens, they talk about 'Ndrangheta. What is this 'Ndrangheta?" asks the 33-year-old pizzamaker, who spent a decade in the northern city of Bologna before returning to San Luca. "No one here rapes women on the street. There's respect...
...that "respect" is often a cover for pervasive corruption. Last month, police arrested a member of Calabria's regional council, Franco La Rupa, for alleged connections to 'Ndrangheta (he denies the charges); according to local reports, he is the fifth regional politician to be arrested for alleged Mob ties since...