Verdicts are expected in Italy’s maxi-trial involving the ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate

By GIADA ZAMPANO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Verdicts are expected Monday in the trial of hundreds of people accused of membership in Italy’s ’ndrangheta organized crime syndicate. The trial started almost three years ago in the southern Calabria region, where the mob organization was originally based. The ’ndrangheta quietly amassed power in Italy and abroad as the Sicilian Mafia lost influence and is now considered one of the world’s most powerful, extensive and wealthy drug-trafficking groups. Anti-mafia prosecutors who led the investigation in southern Italy say the syndicate holds almost a monopoly on cocaine importation in Europe and has bases in North and South America.