Brief History of ‘Ndrangheta Mafia Organization (Part Two)
THE MESSINA EARTHQUAKE (1908)
In December 1908, the first great economic opportunity for ‘Ndrangheta occurred: a huge earthquake completely destroyed the cities of Messina in Sicily and Reggio Calabria in Calabria, where almost half of the citizens died (almost 80.000 casualties). After some days, at the beginning of 1909, the Italian Parliament allocated 100 million Lira for the reconstruction: Mafia members smelled the profitable occasion and, like cockroaches, came out to the light. Many of them came back from the US to create firms that loan money to those affected or build the destroyed houses. At that time, the master of all these businesses was Michelangelo Campolo, the “Capo crimine” of ‘Ndrangheta, who could count on the support of lawyers, local politicians, and policemen.
THE FASCIST PERIOD (1920s-1943)
The expansion of different Mafia groups in the South of Italy pushed the new fascist regime to fight the criminal phenomenon with tougher methods, even though already at the beginning of 1920 few family heads were arrested by the police causing a constrained crisis within the organization. Nonetheless, Mussolini’s men mainly focused on Cosa Nostra and Camorra’s groups since they were the most dangerous and wealthy then. Consequently, thanks to the blindness of the fascist police and the support of local politicians, ‘Ndrangheta continued to expand its businesses. The growth lasted until 1927 when — due to the numerous complaints by the population — the national secretary of the fascist Party Augusto Turati launched a police operation in Calabria that didn’t have any media hype since various fascist local politicians were linked to ‘Ndrangheta. Although the operation was late and hidden by the Party, a new intervention in 1933 led to the arrest of 400 members. Campolo was finally arrested and sentenced to life in 1938. Nevertheless, the economic strength and political entanglements allowed the organization to survive.
‘NDRANGHETA AFTER THE WORLD WAR (1940s-1950s)
The end of the Second World War offered a new incredible economic opportunity for Mafia groups. In fact, the invasion of Anglo-Americans and their bombings had a great repercussion on the South of Italy which suffered hunger and the lack of primary goods. Consequently, ‘Ndrangheta took control of the black market and prostitution to ensure a continuous flow of money although people struggled to survive. The 1953 flood in Reggio Calabria and the post-war conditions favored the expansion of ‘Ndrangheta families that witnessed a period of great internal violence. Indeed, an increase in income leads to the expansion of the Mafia’s power but also more people who want to own a share of that power. The main business in the 1950s is extorsion.
The spread of the violence induced the Italian government to tackle the phenomenon through massive police operations which concluded with 261 members arrested. Moreover, the police operation revealed a close relationship between ‘Ndrangheta and several local politicians.
NEW BUSINESSES (1960s-1970s)
As we have widely understood, one of the greatest features of Mafia organizations is its ability to regenerate and find new profitable businesses. The revitalization of ‘Ndrangheta in the 60s is encouraged by fresh national investments in the South. Indeed, Several ‘Ndrangheta-associated firms won the public procurement to build the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway (1962–1974) which implied 368 billion Lira investments; in parallel, the “Pro Calabria” law for lands stabilization brought an extra 345 billion Lira in the South. Besides gaining public procurements, ‘Ndrangheta members started to buy machines, trucks, materials, and excavators to “sell” to other businesspeople. Different entrepreneurs — mostly from the North — purposely turned to Mafia members due to the low prices, those who refused to pay them faced severe consequences (e.g. stealing or bombings).
Other lucrative businesses are tobacco and cigarette smuggling, principally owned by Cosa Nostra, and kidnappings. Concerning the latter, the most famous one is the kidnapping of Paul Getty III, grandson of Jean Paul Getty, who had been held hostage between 1973 and 1976, when he was freed. Of the 694 kidnappings that occurred in Italy, with an estimated turnover of 800 billion lire, more than half were made by the ‘Ndrangheta.
As happened after the Second War World, the violence increased again.
The main source of the article is the book “Storia Segreta della ‘Ndrangheta” by Nicola Gratteri and Antonio Nicaso (2018).
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