A view shows one of the multiple television screens set up in a special courtroom on January 13, 2021 prior to the opening of the 'Rinascita-Scott' maxi-trial in Lamezia Terme, Italy.
The so-called "maxi-trial", held in a specially converted courtroom in the southern Calabrian town of Lamezia Terme, is expected to run for at least a year. The most famous "maxi-trial" of 1986-7 dealt a major blow to Sicily's Cosa Nostra, resulting in 338 guilty verdicts, but prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were later assassinated by the mob.The current trial, expected to last at least a year and likely longer, features 355 defendants, more than 900 prosecution witnesses, and an unprecedented number of collaborators, given the close family ties within the 'Ndrangheta that discourage turncoats.
Authorities believe there are some 150 'Ndrangheta families in Calabria and at least 6,000 members and affiliates in the region. That swells to thousands more when including those worldwide, although estimates are unreliable. "I have to start with the idea that there's an organisation, as in a business, as in a large multinational, with a boss and then down, like a pyramid, to all the other members," Gratteri told AFP, explaining the need for the "maxi-trial".The current trial focuses on one family, the Mancuso group, and its network of associates who control the Vibo Valentia area of Calabria.
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