The 'Ndrangheta mafia group originated in Calabria, Italy and kept operations local until the 1970s. Through the international drug trade and exploiting rising cocaine consumption in Italy, the 'Ndrangheta emerged from the underworld to become a globally influential illegal organization. By taking advantage of restrictions placed on the rival Cosa Nostra group, the 'Ndrangheta was able to infiltrate businesses across Italy to extort money and establish a cocaine trafficking network with South American cartels. Recent estimates indicate the 'Ndrangheta earns over £40 billion annually, surpassing the revenues of McDonald's and becoming the most powerful crime syndicate in Italy today.
The 'Ndrangheta mafia group originated in Calabria, Italy and kept operations local until the 1970s. Through the international drug trade and exploiting rising cocaine consumption in Italy, the 'Ndrangheta emerged from the underworld to become a globally influential illegal organization. By taking advantage of restrictions placed on the rival Cosa Nostra group, the 'Ndrangheta was able to infiltrate businesses across Italy to extort money and establish a cocaine trafficking network with South American cartels. Recent estimates indicate the 'Ndrangheta earns over £40 billion annually, surpassing the revenues of McDonald's and becoming the most powerful crime syndicate in Italy today.
The 'Ndrangheta mafia group originated in Calabria, Italy and kept operations local until the 1970s. Through the international drug trade and exploiting rising cocaine consumption in Italy, the 'Ndrangheta emerged from the underworld to become a globally influential illegal organization. By taking advantage of restrictions placed on the rival Cosa Nostra group, the 'Ndrangheta was able to infiltrate businesses across Italy to extort money and establish a cocaine trafficking network with South American cartels. Recent estimates indicate the 'Ndrangheta earns over £40 billion annually, surpassing the revenues of McDonald's and becoming the most powerful crime syndicate in Italy today.
THE RISE OF The story of the Italian mafia that became bigger than McDonalds after raking in 40bn in a year...
The early days
The gangs name only reached
a wider audience when mentioned by an Italian writer in 1955, and until 1975 the secretive mobsters kept their business operations to the Calabria region of Italy. From 1973 until 1991 it was involved in bloody wars, as well as the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, whose grandfather was one of Europes richest men. Oilman Getty at first refused to pay for his safe return, but ended up forking out $2.9m after the gang cut off one of his grandsons ears. To end the war, the families involved became members of a superordinate division called La Provincia, as suggested by Cosa Nostra. Eventually the group began to invest in the international drugs trade.
Building an empire
After a crackdown from the
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FRANCE SCO MAISAN O
ARREST ED IN 2011 authorities, the Cosa Nostras activities were restricted to infiltrating local businesses to extort money, which gave the Ndrangheta its chance to emerge from the underworld and flourish as an illegal organisation globally. Only known for its activities in Calabria, the group soon successfully infiltrated Milan. Owing its power to its cocaine trafficking and close ties with
South American cartels, it was
soon able to build a presence across the whole of Italy. This was largely due to it taking advantage of Italys ever-growing cocaine consumption. Between 2007 and 2008, the usage in Milan alone had grown by 27 per cent. In 2010 it had increased by 40 per cent. Its now estimated that one in six people in Milan snorts cocaine on a
WORDS: Joe Barnes
hen you think
of Italys mafia powerhouses, you usually look no further than the Cosa Nostra, whose crimes inspired The Godfather trilogy. But this once untouchable outfits influence has waned in recent years, allowing a new group the Ndrangheta to take its place at the top. Now the Italian authorities are after a gang bigger than the Cosa Nostra and richer than McDonalds. Meet the most secretive mafia on the planet