The Ndrangheta is the only mafia present on all five continents of the world, and according to a 2013 Demoskopika survey, it has a global turnover of 53 billion euros or approximately $73 billion.
There are 166 gangs in Calabria — the southernmost region of the Italian mainland — with at least 4.000 affiliates, according to the Court of Appeal of Catanzaro in 2019.
According to other estimates, however, the ‘Ndrangheta may be active in 30 nations with 400 gangs and 60,000 affiliates, most of which are in Calabria.
Moment the alleged member of the Italian criminal organization Ndrangheta Vittorio Raso was arrested. (Zenger).
It developed from criminal organizations operating in the province of Reggio Calabria, where it is strongly rooted. However, mafia power is also dominant in the provinces of Crotone, Catanzaro, Vibo Valentia, and Cosenza.
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Its main activity is drug trafficking, followed by prostitution, illegal influence on elections, extortion, usury, arms trafficking, gambling, and the disposal of toxic and radioactive waste.
In Calabria, it relies on both the force of arms and on the economic role it has through money laundering, an activity which allows it to control large sectors of the economy, ranging from business to trade and agriculture, often with the connivance of areas of government at the local and regional levels and in all political parties.
Moment the alleged member of the Italian criminal organisation Ndrangheta Vittorio Raso was arrested. (Zenger).
The report of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission of February 20, 2008, states that the ‘Ndrangheta “has a sprawling structure devoid of strategic direction but characterized by a kind of organic intelligence,” while it compares it to the structure of the Islamic terrorist movement al-Qaeda.
Since 2013, the ‘Ndrangheta has been considered among the most dangerous criminal organizations in the world, with a turnover of around 53 billion euros or about $56 billion, with numerous branches around the world.
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