In November 2019, more than 200 mobsters were convicted in Italy’s biggest anti-mafia trial, ending a 10-year investigation into the ‘Ndrangheta, the country’s most powerful and violent mafia organization. Of the 210 defendants prosecuted by a Calabrian court, 187 were handed down sentences ranging from a few months to life imprisonment. The trial offered evidence of the sinister reach of the ‘Ndrangheta, which has become the most powerful mafia group in Italy, profiting from the drug trade and other illegal activities across Europe. The success of the trial was attributed to the willingness of the prosecution to employ fresh tactics, such as witness protection programs and sophisticated methods of wiretapping, the first time such methods had been used in a mafia trial.
