Relations between the 'Ndrangheta and Italian Freemasonry
History
The 'Ndrangheta, albeit in a collateral way, already in the sixties had relations with deviant Freemasonry , to the extent that this acted as an intermediary with the institutions [4] [5] . The aim was to establish relationships of mutual interest with the political class, through the clientele welded by the exchange vote . [6]

Since the 1970s, relations have tightened to the extent that Freemasonry acted as an intermediary with the institutions. He begins to have close relationships after the first 'Ndrangheta war , where some bosses become Freemasons to be able to communicate without intermediaries and thus increase earnings with Freemasonry figures also belonging to the world of banking, judiciary, business and law enforcement [7 ] . This new way of acting of the Calabrian mafia seems to have been wanted by the old boss Don Mommo Piromalli and the new promise Paolo De Stefano [7] . Those who were against this, like Antonio Macrì eDomenico Tripodo , believed that the 'Ndrangheta should not affiliate with other associations and therefore respect the traditional rules of the mafia code [7] . These were eliminated, but in any case to remedy the moral problem , Piromalli founded the Santa , a sort of last hierarchical degree of the organization to which once you have access you also have the power to get in touch and join other organizations, such as Freemasonry [7] . The santisti can be a maximum of 33 but subsequently the number was increased [7] .

In 1992 the so-called "Cordova investigation" (from the name of the Chief Prosecutor of Palmi Agostino Cordova who conducted it) brought to light relations between the 'Ndrangheta and deviant Freemasonry [8] . Cordova ordered searches in the headquarters of the Grand Orient of Italy , which led to the resignation of the Grand Master Giuliano Di Bernardo [9] [10] . The investigation into Freemasonry was then forwarded to the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office after Cordova's transfer to Naples in 1993 and archived in 2000 by the GIPAugusta Iannini, who declared: "there is no need to bring criminal action against the 64 Masons under investigation" [11] .

In 1995 , with the Olimpia operation , more information was obtained; the people who allowed the santisti to join Calabrian Freemasonry were discovered: the notary Pietro Marrapodi, Pasquale Modafferi and the head-loggia Cosimo Zaccone [12] [13] . The existence of a hidden layer of the 'Ndrangheta in recent years was suggested by a telephone interception dating back to the end of 2007 . The carabinieri record, via a bugging device, a conversation between Sebastiano Altomonte (originally from Bova Marina ) and his wife. Altomonte at this juncture underlines that "there is one that is known and one that no one knows". And then, reiterating the concept:«there is the visible and the invisible [...] that nobody knows, only those who are invisible». This entity has never found judicial confirmation. However, the words of Sebastiano Altomonte, subsequently convicted of mafia association, make a current juxtaposition between mafia power and Masonic circles plausible. [4] [14]

Recent events
On 7 November 2012 , an investigation by the DDA of Catanzaro revealed the alleged involvement of the gang in the reconstruction work after the earthquake in Abruzzo and the implementation in Rome of the fiber optic network for the internet and the involvement with Paolo Coraci, founder of a Masonic lodge that allegedly asked for electoral support for D'Ambrosio in exchange for contracts in Lazio , Lombardy and Veneto [15] . In the same year the Wisdom investigation of the DDA of Reggio Calabria showed that the link with theItalian Freemasonry would be very strong, to the point of constituting a way of infiltration at the top levels of Italian politics and the economy [16] , in addition to the promotion of three police stations - two in the South and one in the North - at general management level [17 ] . In particular, in 2010 the lodge indicated the directors of 15 public bodies [18] [19] , appointments that did not materialize. The operations were facilitated by the Liberi e Forti movement, founded by Coraci in 2010 , and by the Edil Sud company of Francesco Comercpubblicazione missaria of the Mancuso - Tripodi clan . [20] [21]
On November 17, 2013 , the Grand Orient of Italy suspended for the first time in its history a lodge, in this case the Rocco Verduci lodge based in Gerace , and with the temple in Siderno for a possible involvement of persons affiliated irregularly and connected to crime organized in Calabria. The choice of suspension was taken after the last judicial inquiry: Operation Wisdom , in which people affiliated with both the 'Ndrangheta and the lodge were arrested [22] .
On 4 January 2016 , the Kyterion 2 operation directed by the Catanzaro District Anti - Mafia Directorate ended which led to the arrest of 16 alleged affiliates of the Grande Aracri di Cutro , the investigations revealed alleged attempts to connect with exponents of the Vatican and the Court of Cassation , as well as the intrusion into Masonic orders and knighthoods by the local chief Nicolino Grande Aracri [23] [24] .
The 2014 report of the former Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy Giuliano Di Bernardo ( 1990 - 1993 ), now Grand Master of the regular Grand Lodge of Italy , would emerge from the Mammasantissima del Ros dei Carabinieri operation concluded on 15 July 2016 . which reports to the public prosecutor Giuseppe Lombardo the confidences of Ettore Loizzo, at the time deputy of the Grand Master: «During a meeting of the Junta of the Grand Orient, which I called urgently in 1993 after the start of the investigation by Dr. Cordova on Freemasonry, at my specific request he said he could say with certainty that in Calabria , out of 32 lodges, 28 were controlled by the 'Ndrangheta. I immediately told him: "And what do you want to do in the face of this disaster?". He replied: "Nothing". Even more dumbfounded, I asked why. He replied that he could do nothing because otherwise he and his family risked serious reprisals ... I point out that the Calabrian question was much more worrying as Calabrian Freemasonry was much more ramified than the Sicilian one » [25]. Since July, the pentito and freemason Cosimo Virgiglio has also started talking about the relationship between Freemasonry and the 'Ndrangheta. He says that highly politicized freemasonry uses Calabrian crime to control electoral flows while it uses money laundering. According to the pentito, the loggia of Reggio Calabria would be divided into two parts: one clean and one hidden; the 'Ndrangheta would be part of the second. He also tells of the presence in the loggias of exponents of the Piromalli and De Stefanos . The mixture of criminal elements, with the dowry of Santa and Freemasons in Masonic jargon is defined as a "gap" (in reference to the breach of Porta Pia); and technically it would be the Masonic world to join the ranks of the 'Ndrangheta [26] [27] [28] .
On 31 January 2017 , in a hearing before the anti-mafia commission, the former master of the GOI Giuliano Di Bernardo told of the links between the 'Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra and freemasonry, and that the number 1 of the Calabrian freemasonry told him that 28 out of 32 Calabrian lodges were infiltrated by the 'Ndrangheta [29] [30] .
On May 23, 2018 , an IT scan of the Anti- Mafia Investigation Directorate enters the Breakfast trial in which the pentito Cosimo Virgiglio and former Freemason tells that the 'ndrina dei Molé through the former Minister of the Republic Claudio Scajola wanted to get to Impregilo . He also tells of the relations of the Molès with the covered loggia of Ugolini Giacomo Maria aka the Grand Orient of San Marino [31] .
On December 19, 2019 , the Rinascita-Scott operation begun in 2016 ended, leading to the arrest of 334 people in particular in the Province of Vibo Valentia , including the heads and affiliates of all the main Vibonese 'Ndrangheta clubs and allies of the Mancusos , in addition to the Mancusos themselves. Among those arrested there are also politicians such as Giancarlo Pittelli (formerly of Forza Italia ), Gianluca Callipo, mayor of Pizzo and president of ANCI in Calabria, lawyers including the defender Giuseppe Zinnà investigated for money laundering after being found at the Swiss - Italian border on December 4 with a check for 100 million euros [32] , Filippo Nesci, urban planning manager of Vibo Valentia , Danilo Tripodi employee to the court of Vibo Valentia , the building contractor Prestia, the restaurateur Ferrante, and exponents of Freemasonry [33] [34] [35] [36] .
Freemason Staffmasters