zecchinetta

The term, ‘Ndrangheta, comes from the Greek word andragathía, meaning heroism, honor, virility and courage. The group is less well known on the international stage than, say, Cosa Nostra (Sicilian Mafia) or the Neapolitan Camorra. They are better known, however, than other Mafia groups in Italy that are barely known overseas, such as the Sicilian Stidda, and the Sacra Corona Unita (SCU) in Puglia and a collection of emergent groups in the Basilicata region.

Until recently the closely knit ‘Ndrangheta network confined its activities to rural southern Italy. But Italian anti-Mafia police say that it is now one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world, much of its success fed by the growing international cocaine trade. Eighty per cent of Europe’s cocaine allegedly passes through the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro; in 2004 police seized 7,500 Kalashnikov assault rifles in the port. In Colombia, 5 months ago, it was discovered that a submarine was being built to serve in the Colombia-Calabria cocaine trafficking route (more on that in the next couple of days). ’Ndrangheta operations have also spread to money laundering, extortion, prostitution, the euro-slave-trade, hard-core pornography, counterfeiting, and arms trafficking.

Milan prosecutors say that the ’Ndrangheta has taken control of illegal drugs trafficking — mostly cocaine — and legitimate businesses in the north, and together with its international links has an annual turnover of around $50 billion, equivalent to 3.5 per cent of Italian GDP. A more accurate assessment would at least double this figure. What the prosecutors don’t say, but which is fact nonetheless, is that the ‘Ndrangheta and Sicilian Cosa Nostra are partners in numerous and significant joint venture partnerships – particularly in northern regions.

Earlier this year authorities in Milan voiced concern over the “infiltration” of the Milanese economy by men with Calabrian accents. When a local mayor near Milan excluded Calabrian-run building companies from public contracts he received a “Happy Easter” card with a bullet inside it and his car was set on fire.

Furthermore, the ‘Ndrangheta has gained powerful behind-the-scenes political influence in Calabria. Two years ago, Franco Fortugno, the anti-Mafia deputy chairman of the regional Parliament, was gunned down as he voted in the town of Locri. The governor of Calabria, Agazio Loiero, said afterwards that the ’Ndrangheta had become “even stronger and more dangerous” than the Sicilian Mafia.

The Duisburg shootings were part of a long-running faida between two ‘ndrine in the Calabrian town of San Luca. According to police in Italy, the Pelle-Romeo family were the first to kill in the 16-year-old feud, shooting dead Francesco Strangio, 20, and Domenico Nirta, 19, with two others left seriously injured. The boys had been hunted down after throwing eggs in a Pelle-Romeo bar during a town feast. Over the next nine years, there were a series of killings by both clans until a truce was called in 2000, which held until last Christmas when Maria Strangio, wife of alleged boss Giovanni Nirta, was murdered and her five-year-old nephew injured by a stray bullet.

The faida has grown exponentially in the past 16 years, and is now fed by asserting strength and power as well as rivalry over international drugs and arms trafficking, extortion and other business endeavors. What it comes down to, these days, is a run-of-the-mill 21st century turf war, with billions in annual profit at stake. Luigi De Sena, the deputy head of the Italian police and former police chief at Reggio Calabria, said: “This score-settling is unprecedented. People from Calabria have a very strong presence in Germany but so far they had kept a low profile, trying not to attract attention.” As Italy’s most senior anti-Mafia investigator, Piero Grasso, has commented: "The presence of Calabrian’s in Germany is very strong but until now they have kept themselves to themselves and attempted not to be conspicuous."

Thirty eight year old Giovanni Nirta is suspected to have dispatched last weeks ‘Ndrangheta hit squad to Duisburg in Germany, to execute six Pelle-Romeo ‘ndranghetisti, including the man who allegedly killed his wife, Maria Strangio. Nirta denies it. He doesn’t say anything about being the boss of San Luca’s Nirta-Strangio ‘ndrina, despite the media’s ignorant interpretation of his remarks. He has been hounded by the press – suddenly they all wanna talk to “a real live boss.” Fucking parasites (the press, that is) turning San Luca into Disney-Italia, in the same way that last year they turned Corleone into Disney-Sicilia. Of course, as chief suspect (and possibly local boss…), Nirta can’t bust outta town. So he’s left to deal with the miserable news hounds showing up on his doorstep. They wouldn’t be there if the place wasn’t swarming with cops. They wouldn’t care, they wouldn’t dare. That’s why I detest them.

In the one sound bite that Nirta has given he claims that he is a poor laborer who scrapes a living from picking olives and tending to his tomato patch. “I know absolutely nothing about this. They call me a boss, but the only time I was sentenced it was for robbery in 1986.” The man is, without a doubt, brilliant; he’s playing the press for their own ignorance, and setting up the Italian justice system for humiliation if they dare to haul him in.

Furthermore, by phrasing it in this way he is not lying. He doesn’t say if he is a boss or not, he denies nothing. Nirta exhibits the utmost in honorable behavior – he didn’t lie, and he didn’t deny his ‘ndrina. Truly, calculated genius. If Nirta is arrested the nation will ask why, if he is the boss of the ‘ndrina, has he only got one charge against him, from 21 years ago, when he was a minor. Nirta’s track record is clean, as should be the track record of any major player in the honor-game. He is sharp, calculated, and strategic: “I am just a widower looking after his three children; a poor laborer who gets by picking olives and minding the vegetable patch.” he told reporters.

It gets better: when asked about Marco Marmo, the man suspected in Nirta’s wife’s murder, the man who was allegedly the main target in Duisburg, the press is given this: “I know Marmo, he's a good kid,” said Nirta, flanked by Maria's sisters and mother, clad in mourning black. “If I wanted revenge, why should I have waited until he was in Germany?” And that’s just the thing, why would he? Well maybe because he understands that, in San Luca, folks are starting to get a bit disconcerted over the violence in the last 8 months. Because what Nirta needs more than anything (if he's the boss) in order to secure his the status, power, and security of his 'ndrina, and which he understands very well indeed, is the support of San Luca’s townsfolk.

Shit, Cosa Nostra and the ‘Ndrangheta should be contracted to take charge of the allied forces in the Middle East. These guys might not have political science PhD’s, but they’re stratospherically more adept at long-term strategy and successful tactical maneuver than anyone in the London-Washington D.C. circle jerk.