Cop, judge, journalist, activist, prosecutor, volunteer: Women challenge the mafia in Italy’s Puglia

A remarkable array of women is challenging the Sacra Corona Unita, Italy’s fourth main organized crime group that operates in southern Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot. They are doing it at great personal risk, arresting and prosecuting clan members, exposing their crimes and confiscating their businesses, all while working to change local attitudes. Carla Durante heads the Lecce office of Italy’s inter-agency anti-mafia police force. Marilu Mastrogiovanni, an investigative journalist and journalism professor, exposes the mafia in her blog. Rosanna Picoco volunteers for the anti-mafia group Libera, where Sabrina Matrangelo, the daughter of a mafia victim, is also an activist. Maria Francesca Mariano is an investigative judge in Lecce, the same city where Carmen Ruggiero is a prosecutor.