Brief History of ‘Ndrangheta Mafia Organization (Part Three)
THE FOUNDATION OF CONTEMPORARY ‘NDRANGHETA (1960s-1970s)
During the years of drug trafficking, cigarette smuggling, and kidnappings, three main personalities led the ‘Ndrangheta. The first one is Giuseppe Nirta, who started his criminal career at the age of fifteen years when he was a simple thief. Even though in the ’60s he was one the head of the Calabrian organization, for years Nirta was able to disappear from the eyes of the police. Conversely, the most known figure in these decades is Antonio Macrì, mastermind of several massacres and widely respected for his violent character. The last one is Domenico Tripodo, a rich entrepreneur who extended his business empire from Calabria to Piemonte. Thanks to their reputation and power, they gained the right to organize and head the annual meeting of the ‘Ndrangheta bosses in Polsi, at the bottom of Aspromonte Mountain. In parallel, the De Stefano family became the point of reference among the young members.
The expansion of ‘Ndrangheta during the ’60s and the ’70s led to the creation of a new internal body: “Santa”. The only members were the most powerful bosses, who had the competence to manage relationships with external individuals, such as Freemasonry associates and politicians.
THE FIRST ‘NDRANGHETA WAR
The coexistence of different strong bosses and the allocation of new funds by the government in the ‘70s to renovate the industrial sector in Calabria (the so-called “Pacchetto Colombo”, almost 2000 billion Lira) led to another period of violence within the ‘Ndrangheta that resulted into the “First ‘Ndrangheta War”. The main cause of the war was the clash between the aspiration of the De Stefano family to join the other three families at the grown-ups’ table by taking the most valuable public procurement established by the Pacchetto Colombo and the misfortune of the clans mentioned earlier. The internal discontent led to the formation of two factions: De Stefano, Piromalli, Mazzaferro, Cataldo, and Mammoliti against Tripodo, Nirta, and Macrì. The war started in 1974 and ended in 1977 after the deaths of 233 people. The First ‘Ndrangheta War concluded with the homicide of Giorgio De Stefano, who wanted to become the supreme leader of ‘Ndrangheta, and the consequent agreement between all the families exhausted of all their losses. The casualties provoked by the clash were not the only reason: the violence and the deaths of a large number of people pushed the Italian police to start chasing ‘Ndrangheta bosses who instigated the killings. In fact, in 1978, sixty bosses were arrested provoking a generational change in the organization (only 28 were finally convicted).
Anyway, the funds provided by the Pacchetto Colombo and the ability of ‘Ndrangheta groups to establish profitable relationships with entrepreneurs through the support of politicians and the protection of the corrupted Magistracy allowed ‘Ndrangheta to survive.
THE SECOND ‘NDRANGHETA WAR
The Second ‘Ndrangheta War started for similar reasons. In the ’80, the Italian government allocated billions of Lira to build the bridge to connect Sicily to Calabria. Of course, the huge investment enticed the Calabrian bosses who wanted to appropriate the money as they did in the previous decade. The war started in 1985, when Paolo De Stefano, the successor of Giorgio, tried to kill one of his most powerful opponents: Antonino Imerti. The attempt failed and Imerti immediately ordered the homicide of De Stefano, which occurred in less than three days. This time the clash was even worse: more than seven hundred deaths in six years (1985–1991). The scale of the war was so large that even the members of Canada thought the war would have reached them. Even this time, the awareness of public media, the police counter-response, and the hundreds of losses pushed the ‘Ndrangheta heads to conclude a peace agreement. Nevertheless, bosses found a permanent solution: a new internal body (the so-called “Provincia”, more information here) was created to solve any solution among the families.
Once again ‘Ndrangheta survived. In fact, while the ones to die were the “soldiers” and the low-rank members, the heads continued their businesses without any major issues. According to the Italian Antimafia Commission, in 1993, the ‘Ndrangheta organization had 150 clans composed of almost 5000 members.
‘NDRANGHETA IN THE NEW CENTURY: STABILITY, SECRECY, AND NEW BUSINESSES
After the two wars, the main business of ‘Ndrangheta is drug trafficking. Indeed, during the ‘80s and the ‘90s, the Italian police and Magistracy heavily tackled Cosa Nostra after the several massacres carried out by the Sicilian organization. In parallel, Camorra didn’t have a strong hierarchical structure that allowed the Neapolitan groups to control such an extended business. Conversely, due to the stability established by the peace treaty of the ‘80s and the distraction of the police, ‘Ndrangheta strengthened its bond with other countries, such as Canada, Australia, all the European countries, the Middle East (where heroin is produced), and South America (where cocaine is produced), where Calabrian people were sent to control the correct execution of their businesses. Today, ‘Ndrangheta is a multinational company that carries out multiple businesses in different fields and countries (the Calabrian Association is the only organized crime organization located in every continent) thanks to its rigid hierarchical structure. According to the most recent data, ‘Ndrangheta has almost 6000 members and an annual income of more than 50 billion Euro.
In the last twenty years, the Italian police tried to tackle the organization through several operations that revealed the extension of its empire. Nevertheless, its incredible capacity to find new economic opportunities, such as the pandemic or the war in Ukraine, represents a huge obstacle to its destruction. Anyway, this topic is too complex to be addressed here and for this reason, it needs an appropriate article.
The main source of the article is the book “Storia Segreta della ‘Ndrangheta” by Nicola Gratteri and Antonio Nicaso (2018).
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