Antonio Nicaso: '''Ndrangheta changed after Duisburg. Facts are needed to fight it''
Jamil El Sadi August 15, 2024
Exclusive interview with the professor expert in organized crime, 17 years after the mafia massacre in Germany
It is the night between August 14 and 15, 2007. Marco Marmo, Francesco Pergola, Tommaso Venturi, Marco Pergola, Francesco Giorni and Sebastiano Strangio leave the Italian restaurant "Da Bruno" in Duisburg, a city outside the district that overlooks the Rhine, in Germany. Suddenly they are hit by a hail of bullets that mows them down one by one. It is 02:24. This moment will mark Germany forever.
?The massacre matured in the context of the San Luca feud between the Nirta-Strangio group and the opposing Pelle-Vottari-Romeo group to which the victims belonged. That massacre, in fact, was the response to the murder of Maria Strangio, killed on Christmas Day 2006 in an ambush actually aimed at the woman's husband, Giovanni Luca Nirta , and Francesco Colorisi, who was injured on that occasion along with the minor Domenico Nirta. According to investigators, in order to get revenge, the 'ndrina sacrificed the tacit agreement not to raise too much dust in the internal affairs of the clans, breaking what until then had been a tradition: Pelle-Vottari-Romeo on one side and Nirta-Strangio on the other leave the dead killed with a certain discretion. And they don't even spare holidays. In fact, crimes are committed on special occasions precisely to leave an indelible memory of the tragedy. The violence that exploded that night revealed to the entire world how deep-rooted and pervasive the presence of the 'Ndrangheta was even in towns apparently far from their criminal epicenter. Germany, known for its stability and security, suddenly found itself having to deal with an uncomfortable reality: the presence of a powerful and organized criminal network, capable of striking with unprecedented ferocity even outside the Italian borders. Seventeen years later, the memory of that infernal night remains a powerful warning of how the 'Ndrangheta has permeated even outside of Italy. To analyze the Duisburg massacre and the criminal evolution of the 'Ndrangheta, we interviewed Professor Antonio Nicaso : one of the leading international experts on the criminal phenomenon, as well as co-author of dozens of books on the 'Ndrangheta together with the prosecutor Nicola Gratteri. Professor, the Duisburg massacre turned the spotlight on the infiltration of the 'Ndrangheta in Germany. And it also marked the height of the San Luca feud between the opposing Nirta-Strangio and Pelle-Vottari gangs. 17 years later, what has changed?
The 'Ndrangheta, after the Duisburg massacre, has become more cautious, more attentive. It has realized that exporting to Germany a feud that had roots in the heart of stone of Aspromonte was not a very wise decision. Just consult Google to understand how the 'Ndrangheta after Duisburg has become more visible to the world. Before, it had always been underestimated for a long time, as if it were a less important mafia, rooted essentially in Calabria. Duisburg has somehow "cleared" it, so much so that it is possible to argue without fear of contradiction that there is a "before" and an "after" Duisburg, at least as far as the perception of the phenomenon outside Italy is concerned. Today the 'Ndrangheta is a criminal organization present in at least 50 countries, increasingly involved in international drug trafficking and ready to explore the new frontiers of the digital world.
In his latest book, written together with the Prosecutor of Naples Nicola Gratteri - "Il Grifone" (ed. Mondadori) -, he tells the story of the evolution of the mafia in the cyberspace era. How did the 'Ndrangheta reconcile the tradition of mafia organizations with technological innovation?
It has always had a great ability to adapt to new situations and has always reconciled tradition and innovation. But I must say that I did not expect such a sudden adaptation in the world of technological innovation. I did not expect the transfer to Calabria of computer pirates capable of mining cryptocurrencies and investing huge sums of money on clandestine trading platforms. I still remember a statement recorded by the police in a town in the Como area, in which a member of a 'Ndrangheta family warned against the use of cell phones, claiming that they were like having a Carabiniere in your pocket.
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