CINQUEFRONDI, Italy: Lucia urged her six-year old twins to move quickly but quietly as she bundled them into the car under cover of darkness.
Lucia's husband, brother-in-law and mother-in-law had been convicted for mafia crimes; her father-in-law for murder.Lucia herself was on bail pending an appeal against her conviction for mafia association. A general view shows a special courtroom on Jan 13, 2021 prior to the opening of the 'Rinascita-Scott' maxi-trial in which more than 350 alleged members of Calabria's 'Ndrangheta mafia group and their associates go on trial in Lamezia Terme, Calabria.
"It immerses them, without any effort on their part, into a system of power that gives them an easily recognisable status and makes them feel 'visible' ... which is seen as the key to social success," she told AFP. "Often they had seen their fathers, brothers, grandparents killed. And, according to the mafia code, they have to seek revenge, so violence begets violence in a perverse spiral," he said.Sprawled on a hillside in the rugged Calabrian hinterland, Cinquefrondi is a maze of alleys and little squares.
The town, a Greek and Byzantine settlement now home to some 6,500 people, became synonymous with the 'Ndrangheta after two minors - one just 13 years old - were killed in a shootout at an amusement arcade in 1998. If necessary, youngsters are temporarily placed in nearby children's homes, removing them from immediate danger, such as involvement in the smuggling and stocking of illegal weapons or drugs.Working with national anti-mafia association Libera and the Catholic Church, children are taken out of Calabria and sent into foster care with families until they are 18.
"He is utterly selfish. He loves crime, and has spent 90 percent of his life behind bars like an animal in the zoo. He ruined not only my beloved mother but the rest of the family too," she said. "There are children aged 10 or 11 able to handle weapons with skill, they know where to hide drugs, how to evade the controls of the police.
Di Bella says he can immediately spot minors from 'ndrine -- local clans of the 'Ndrangheta -- in his courtroom because they are trained at an early age not to show any emotion AFP/Gianluca CHININEA
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