When the 'Ndrangheta discovered America. 1880-1956. From Santo Stefano d'Aspromonte to New York, a story of business, crime and politics Hardcover – 30 May 2019
Italian edition by Antonio Nicaso (Author), Maria Barillà (Author), Vittorio Amaddeo (Author), & 1 more
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Archaic and ragged, dedicated to oppression and abuse, the Calabrian Picciotteria of the late nineteenth century seemed destined to remain anchored to the myths, rites and codes of behavior born in the Bourbon prisons modeled on those of the secret societies of the Risorgimento. And instead, right then, a silent revolution begins that will transform its rural face into the entrepreneurial one of today's 'ndrangheta, an unscrupulous and ruthless multinational crime corporation, capable of adapting to the changing challenges of the global market. What triggered this metamorphosis at the turn of the two centuries was the "discovery" of America. Having landed in the New World together with tens of thousands of honest labourers, the Calabrian "maffiosi", unlike their less astute Sicilian and Campanian brothers, choose a low profile to reconstitute their underworld network, made up of leaders, henchmen and legends (above all , that of the "brigand" Musolino), who makes lavish profits at the expense of Italian workers (such as the miners of Carbondale, Pennsylvania) and of hundreds of young immigrants induced into prostitution in the resorts of Manhattan and Chicago, before holding the ranks of the clandestine trade in alcohol and drug trafficking. Thus was born the 'Ndrangheta, an overseas entrepreneur, who shakes hands, stipulates agreements and manages to infiltrate the sancta sanctorum of the social elite. To the point of casting his shadow heavily on the scene of the Petrosino crime. Once back in Calabria, it will be the "Americans" who will impose the new criminal strategy on the organization (control of the territory and collusion with politics and institutions), starting that process which, in a few decades, will make the 'ndrangheta one of the most powerful mafias and pervasive in the world. After extensive research conducted on a vast amount of documents, Antonio Nicaso, Maria Barillà and Vittorio Amaddeo reconstruct the history of this criminal mutation of the 'Ndrangheta on American soil. Foreword by Nicola Gratteri.