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Concept
'Ndrangheta
Summary
The 'Ndrangheta ((ən)dræŋˈɡɛtə, nˈdraŋɡeta, (ɳ)ˈɖɽaɲɟɪta) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate based in the peninsular region of Calabria and dating back to the 18th century. It is considered one of the most powerful organized crime groups in the world.
Since the 1950s, following wide-scale emigration from Calabria, the organization has established itself worldwide. It is characterized by a horizontal structure made up of autonomous clans known as ndrine, based almost exclusively on blood ties. Its main activity is drug trafficking, on which it has a near monopoly in Europe, but it also deals with arms trafficking, money laundering, racketeering, extortion, loan sharking, and prostitution.
The 'Ndrangheta enjoys a privileged relationship with the main South American cartels, which consider it their most reliable European partner.
It is capable of heavily influencing local and national politics and infiltrating large sectors of the legal economy. In 2013 they purportedly made €53 billion, according to a study from Demoskopika Research Institute. A US diplomat estimated that the organization's drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering activities accounted for at least three percent of Italy's GDP in 2010.
The 'Ndrangheta was already known during the reign of the Bourbons of Naples. In the spring of 1792, the first official report on the organisation was published, and a mission as "Royal Visitor" was entrusted to Giuseppe Maria Galanti; he travelled throughout most of Calabria, often also making use of reports of locals deemed reliable and trusted. This work has been analyzed by various contemporary historians. Luca Addante writes in the introduction to the re-edition of Galanti's report ("Giornale di viaggio in Calabria", Rubbettino Editore, 2008): "the murders, thefts, the kidnappings were infinite; the ignorance of the clergy was scandalous; the village notables, obsessed with the idea of enriching themselves and then ennobling themselves, rapacious monopolizers of local administrations, who grew up in the shadow of a decadent nobility whose remains were being prepared.
Official source
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