For a brief intro on the 'ndrangheta

The 'ndrangheta (from the Greek etymology, 'society of men of honour') was declared a mafia-type criminal association, originating in southern Calabria, only in 2010, through its inclusion in Article 416-bis of the Criminal Code (crime of mafia-type association). However, this mafia is not only in Calabria. The 2017 National Anti-Mafia Directorate (DNA) report noted 

"the widespread presence of the 'ndrangheta in almost all Italian regions and in several states, not only in Europe, but also in America - the United States and Canada - and Australia". 

Also confirmed were "the solid relations with Central/South American criminal organisations for the management of drug trafficking, particularly cocaine, a business in which the 'ndrangheta holds absolute supremacy in Europe". 

In the second report of the Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA) of 2021, we read that "the 'ndrangheta finds its strong point, on the one hand, in its loyalty to its origins and in the family-based structuring that prevents its transformation into an aseptic crime multinational, and on the other, in the maximum flexibility and business-financial intuition that projects it outside of its region of origin in Italy and abroad". 

In short, the story is always the same: Calabrian organised crime confirms its leadership in the practice of extortion, usury and drug trafficking also because it has a history and a tradition linked to the territories, such as the port of Gioia Tauro, which made it possible to develop and maintain certain criminal activities.

There is no doubt that for the forces of law and order, little has changed between 2010 and 2022 and that the 'ndrangheta, as a whole, still represents a fearsome threat to Italy's economy and well-being.

The 'ndrangheta is thus considered both the most powerful mafia system in Italy today and, historically, also the least visible on the ground, due to the apparent dispersion it showed in its early years. In spite of the general sense of ambiguity that characterises this mafia group, as we have seen, its structure has become the subject of specialist investigation at national and international level since the 1970s.

More than other mafia groups, the 'ndrangheta seems to be characterised by an extraordinary ability to adapt archaic and traditional values to the needs of the present, while managing changes and opportunities with modernity. The archaic/modern dichotomy is the modus operandi that has made the Calabrian mafia stand out among all other mafia organisations in Italy. The clans - the 'ndrine - have been able to use technological innovations, as well as exploit political and economic changes. 

The dangerousness of the 'ndrangheta is linked to a reputation built on the ferocious violence of the 1970s-1980s, as well as a great ability to vigorously pursue profit and power in different territories, diversifying inputs and investments according to territory.

One of the fundamental problems in analysing the origin of the 'ndranghetist phenomenon is its connotation as a criminal phenomenon. If, as we have said, the 'ndrangheta is a mafia-type organisation under Italian criminal law, we must remember how the criminal code defines the mafia phenomenon. Article 416-bis, in fact, requires a certain number of 'ingredients' to qualify a criminal organisation as mafia-like. A mafia-type association exists when a group of persons systematically uses the 'mafia method' (Article 416-bis, Criminal Code):

"(...) when those who are part of it make use of the intimidating force of the association bond and of the condition of subjugation and the resulting code of silence in order to commit crimes, to directly or indirectly acquire the management or in any case the control of economic activities, concessions, authorisations, contracts and public services or to make unjust profits or advantages for themselves or others or in order to prevent or hinder the free exercise of the vote or to procure votes for themselves or others on the occasion of electoral consultations".

What qualifies the mafia - every mafia - is therefore the method, i.e. that set of group behaviours characterised either by a specific organisational plan (usually through a unitary structure) or by a set of norms, values and actions shared between several individuals. In this sense, the 'ndrangheta is a criminal organisation both because it has specific organisational structures - as seen - and because its clans make use of, and promote, shared behaviours that enable criminal conducts and strengthen the subjectivity of the clans themselves. 

Summarising the origins and growth of the 'ndrine is very complex. Firstly, we cannot separate the birth and development of the mafia phenomenon from the historical evolution of Calabria. Secondly, we must identify external factors - political, social and economic - which, in Calabria, have contributed to the contemporary situation of the clans and this is not an easy task in retrospect. If, on the one hand, the Calabrian region is an example of underdevelopment in Italy, on the other hand, the clans have also prospered thanks to economic, social and political changes and the growth of Calabrian society. 

It is often said that for the 'ndrangheta clans, everything begins where it ends, namely in Calabria. It is very quick to say that the head - like the heart - of the criminal organisation remains always and only in Calabria. And yet, we have said how criminal activities certainly have several heads, without a control room; they are dislocated throughout the national territory and even abroad. An investigation into the complex and composite identity of the clans in their place of birth is therefore essential to fully understand the various faces of this mafia today, even outside Calabria.

Corrado Alvaro, a writer born in San Luca, in Aspromonte, wrote in an article in Corriere della Sera on 17 September 1955: 

"The Fibbia, the 'ndrina, the 'ndranghita, the Honourable Society, in essence the Mafia, I have known for as long as I can remember. In my meetings in Calabria, I was always interested in noticing those attitudes, those behaviours, those particular hairstyles or clothes that could characterise a member of the Honourable Society. Far from taking on brutal appearances, they behaved like distinguished parvenus. Strong in violence, they had social status".

'Despised in the past, they became feared,' Alvaro wrote further. Indeed, when a society has little or no opportunity to change its status quo, being feared is a way to stand out. From the beginning of its history, the 'ndrangheta has never been a simple police problem. In fact, the ruling classes as much as ordinary people have contributed to the evolution of this, and other, mafias. 

Although Alvaro's statements date back to 1955, they are still very relevant. In fact, the evolution of the clans and their affiliates, their behaviour inside and outside certain areas of Calabria are linked to the fate of the region as a whole. This note is not to apportion blame - mind you - but to understand how a criminal phenomenon, which in its basic characteristics could originate anywhere, has actually developed in Calabria with the features of today. 

Alvaro wrote again in the same article: "For the confusion of ideas that reigned among us, concerning justice and injustice, wrong and right, legal and illegal, for the real and presumed abuses of those who, in some way, held power, it was not found improper to be accompanied by a 'ndranghetista".  

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© Anna Sergi