Ndrangheta Organized Crime Group Coursework Assignment

‘Ndrangheta Organized Crime Group
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Abstract
‘Ndrangheta is one of the four main Italian criminal organizations, formed in 1860s. The group’s activities include drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, money laundering and counterfeiting. It originates in the Calabria region of Italy, but has spread its operations internationally in United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Colombia and Asian countries. It has approximately 5300 members and 140 cells with a close clan structure, which makes it hard to penetrate. The cells are interconnected family groups, which are based on the blood relations and marriages. The structure of the group includes Locali, Ndrine and II Crimine or La Pronvicia. Ndrines operating in any region are grouped into Locali. The Ndrines operate both locally and internationally, and under the leadership of II Crimine, which makes the group’s top decisions. Until 1975, the group’s main activities were blackmailing and extortion. Later, they expanded their scope using contraband cigarette and contacts with the Sicilian and Neapolitan Camorra mafia. With the obtained capital, the group has turned into drug trafficking as its primary activity, both locally and internationally. Other activities include rigged tenders and fraud, and illegal environmental waste dumping. Over the years, the group has evolved from its kidnapping activities for ransom to participating in the drug trafficking business on the global scale by establishing contacts with the major suppliers of cocaine from Colombia and Asian countries.
Keywords: ‘Ndrangheta, Calabria, drug-trafficking, Italy.
‘Ndrangheta Organized Crime Group Structure
In Italy, there are many criminal organizations, which conduct their businesses, mainly around drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, counterfeiting and money laundering. For a long time, ‘Ndrangheta operations did not raise any suspicion on the extent of their activities. It started in the Calabria region of Italy and had expanded to become a global criminal enterprise with its operations stretching as far as Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Colombia, and Germany. Over time, this criminal group has exploited the Calabrian’s immigrants who migrated to Belgium, Germany, U.S, and Australia. Family ties have been used successfully to create new links and territory in addition to expansion. The initial capital for the group to enter into the drug trafficking business was obtained from ransoms collected from kidnapping. This essay seeks to examine the groups’ structure both on the international and national level in addition to the groups ‘activities and business interests.
The ‘Ndrangheta criminal group is considered the third largest criminal group of the four Italian criminal groups. The group was formed in the 1860s after a group of Sicilians was banned from the Italian Island by the Italian government and occupied Calabria, creating small criminal groups. It has approximately 5,300 members and 140 cells extending beyond Calabria. In the United States, federal agencies unearthed that the ‘Ndrangheta members used the Pizza shops in major east coast stores as outlets for heroin trafficking. The ‘Ndrangheta is a Calabrian mafia. It has a close clan structure, which makes it very hard for outsiders to penetrate. It has hundreds of family gangs within its network. The cells are interconnected family groups, which are based on blood relations and marriages (Allum & Gilmour, 2015).
‘Ndrangheta Structure and Operating Methods
The main operations and planning of the ‘Ndrangheta’ group are carried out in Calabria, where most families are either members of the group or fear has been installed to the extent they cannot disclose the group operations. The global branches, which coordinate the activities of the group on the international level, consist of family members sent from Calabria in Northern Italy. It is a sophisticated network, which is secretive in its operations and lethal in executing anyone suspected of disclosing their operations. The Italian Parliament Anti-mafia committee has described the group international structure to be equivalent to that of Al-Qaeda. In a span of three decades, the group has grown from a village outfit into establishing ties with the Colombia’s FARC and major suppliers of heroin and hashish out of central Asia (Paoli, 2010).
The group is based on Ndrine, with local groups forming the building blocks of the organization. The Ndrine operating within any reg...