Hundreds face sentencing in historic Italian mafia trial

Lamezia Terme, Italy (AFP) — Hundreds of alleged mobsters will be sentenced Monday by an Italian court, the culmination of a historic, nearly three-year trial against Calabria's notorious 'Ndrangheta mafia.

Prosecutors are asking for guilty verdicts against 322 accused mafia members and their white-collar collaborators in what could mark the most significant blow to date against one of the world's most powerful organized crime syndicates, which enjoys a near-monopoly on the European cocaine trade.

The sentencing will cap Italy's largest mafia trial in decades, a "maxi-trial" in which vast numbers of defendants accused of being part of the same mafia criminal conspiracy face justice.

The court of Vibo Valentia — a province in the poor southern region of Calabria that is the birthplace of the 'Ndrangheta — has heard thousands of hours of testimony since the trial began in January 2021, including from more than 50 former mafia operatives turned state's witnesses.

They and others have detailed countless examples of the 'Ndrangheta's brutality and its stranglehold over the local population, whether carrying out violent ambushes, shaking down business owners, rigging public tenders, stockpiling weapons, collecting votes or passing kickbacks to the powerful.