Worried Italian grandmother leads police to bust major mafia drug ring

Italian anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri with his police protection 

Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI /AFP

A desperate Italian grandmother who went to the police about her grandson’s cocaine addiction prompted an operation which led to the dismantling of a powerful mafia drug-dealing network in the southern region of Calabria.

"The grandmother went to the Carabinieri (police) to ask them to save her grandson who was being devoured by the world of drugs," Colonel Piero Sutera, the commander of the local Carabinieri force, told a press conference.

The cry for help led to an extensive undercover operation in which police kept drug dealers under surveillance.

On Wednesday, they arrested 33 people on suspicion of dealing drugs in towns along the coast of Calabria.

The drug trade was controlled by the Muto family, one of many clans within the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which originates from Calabria.

Police said the clan was also involved in extorting money from local businesses as well as the illegal possession of firearms.

“Nothing moves in this region without the say-so of the Muto clan,” said Vincenzo Capomolla, a prosecutor.

During one of their raids, police found a hidden attic space in the ceiling of a bathroom, accessible through a disguised trap door.

They said it may have been used to give shelter to clan members on the run from the law.

Although the arrests would deal a blow to the mafia, other clan members would come forward to take up the roles of those arrested, said Nicola Gratteri, a leading anti-mafia prosecutor.

“So it is up to civil society to occupy the space that we have been able to liberate,” he said.

Mr Gratteri is the lead prosecutor in a mass trial of alleged ‘Ndrangheta criminals that began in January.

More than 350 alleged Mafiosi and their collaborators face justice in a trial that will involve 900 prosecution witnesses and 400 lawyers.

The trial, expected to last at least two years, is taking place in a specially-built courthouse in an industrial area outside the city of Lamezia Terme in Calabria.

The ‘Ndrangheta has grown rich and powerful on the back of importing cocaine from South America into Europe, which earns it an estimated €50 billion euros a year. The network has used the huge profits from drugs to invest heavily in legitimate businesses across Italy.