A few months old article, sorry if already posted:

Italian workers exploited by mafia clan in Belgium
Sarah Johansson - The Brussels Times - Saturday, 29 June 2019

The Bologna Prosecutor’s office (Italy) is investigating an organisation that exploits Italian workers in Belgium.

Sixteen people were arrested in Italy in June. Le Soir reported that there may be a connection between the rise of a mafia clan in Belgium and economic activity between Brussels and Namur.

Construction workers are allegedly brought from Italy, working under exploitative conditions.

Le Soir got hold of a 261-page document detailing the proof against 76 people being investigated by the Instruction court.

Among them is Dilbeek resident Mario Timpano, who is suspected of being the link between Belgium and the Grande Aracri clan, who belong to the Calabrian mafia.

The judge said telephone bugs were able to expose an organisation that takes vulnerable workers to building sites in Brussels to exploit them for the clan’s financial gain.

At the start of 2017, “David Gaspari and Salvatore Grande Aracri recruited workers and bought them to Belgium and subjected them to exploitative conditions. They used them for construction work in the Brussels region, to build 350 apartments for a local business,” magistrates said.

Eight victims (four masons and four carpenters) were identified in the first few months of 2017 alone. They may have only been paid salaries as low as 6.75 euros an hour.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-n...d-by-an-italian-mafia-family-in-belgium/

Maxi-operation of Police and Guardia di Finanza, which arrested 34 people in Lombardy and Calabria for tax offenses, extortion and improper use of payment cards. The complex system for the issue of false invoices through cooperative companies, in which subjects linked to the 'Ndrangheta were involved,. More than 13 million of assets have been seized, including homes referable to an accountant who holds accounting records for companies in the Piromalli clan.

More insightful Italian article on the Grande Aracri bust I posted above. They had connections in Emilia, where the workers were coming from, and Tuscany, where the construction firm was based.

Ndrangheta in Emilia, the caporalato of the clan: workers sent to Brussels. "Hunger pay and a third of the money ended up being the boss"

by Paolo Bonacini - 27 June 2019 - il Fatto quotidiano

The latest investigation against the Grande Aracri reconstructs the events linked to the intermediation of labor. They are a photocopy of what emerged in Aemilia on post-earthquake reconstruction activities in 2012. For Belgian canteries, where Albanian construction companies operated, dozens of unemployed and needy workers left, recruited in Emilia Romagna in 2017 and formally hired by a company of Florence that in reality was only a screen

The Grimilde inquiry is like an annex of Aemilia, the maxi-ndrangheta trial in Northern Italy. A branch that was based in Brescello, closed by the arrests obtained by the prosecutor of Bologna, Beatrice Ronchi. Seventy-six suspects (13 in Brescello alone), 16 pre-trial detention, 13 abused individuals of 416 bis, membership in a mafia-type criminal association. A family under indictment, that of Francesco Grande Aracri, his wife Santina Pucci, his sons Paolo, Rosita and Salvatore, known as Calamaro and true ruler of external activities after his father's reputation had been compromised by his conviction in Edilpiovra. The man who already according to Aemilia was the real owner of the two most "in" places of Reggio Emilia, some time ago, on the front of youth clubs: Los Angeles in Quattro Castella and Italghisa in the city. Carmelina, Salvatore's wife and with him resident in Brescello, is also under investigation, and with her four other members of the Passafaro family who live in Viadana.

They were, with illustrious companions in the adventure, to carry on the activities of 'ndrangheta from the Brescello annex after January 2015, with the usual kit of fictitious headings, threats and intimidation, fakes and scams, extortion and debt recovery, theft and exploitation of workers. Carpenters and masons in particular, recruited by the head of the family, Francesco Grande Aracri, who taught his son Salvatore how best to use the gangmaster and went personally to Brussels to manage the activities that crossed national borders.

The events related to labor brokering are a photocopy of what emerged in Aemilia on post-earthquake reconstruction activities in 2012. For Belgian canteries, where Albanian construction companies operated, dozens of unemployed and needy workers, recruited in Emilia Romagna, left in 2017 and formally hired by a company in Florence that was really just a screen. The connections with Belgium were guaranteed by Mario Timpano, a suspect residing in Dilbeek in the northern country, while Davide Gaspari, born in Germany and resident in Viadana of Mantua, was now awaiting housekeeping .

A third of the remuneration for the work done ended up in the pockets of the ‘ndrangheta, while the carpenters and the masons obtained starvation payments. A case for all: the worker Francesco Sciano who worked for 100 hours receiving 675 euros in cash (6.75 euros an hour) without paycheck, without compensation, without contributions, paying himself the food in the weeks from March 25 to 13 April 2017. Worse than the Italian emigrants in the Belgian mines seventy years ago.

The set of crimes of Grimilde was committed between 2004 and 2018, with particular intensity of action in the last four years, when the free men of the cosca also covered the voids left by those in jail. When many in Reggio Emilia deluded themselves that everything was over. The most striking case is that concerning Giuseppe Caruso, an employee of the Piacenza Customs Office, accused of 416 bis together with his brother Albino and capable (to say the least) of moving seas and mountains for the interests of the gang. Giuseppe Caruso is also president of the Piacenza City Council, in quota of the Brothers of Italy: Giorgia Meloni announced yesterday the expulsion from the party of the arrested president.

Even the former president of the Parma City Council Giovanni Paolo Bernini (Forza Italia) was accused in Aemilia of a competition outside the mafia association, but the crime was retrained and extinguished due to a prescription. Even the leader of Forza Italia in the Reggio Emilia City Council, Giuseppe Pagliani, is still on trial in Aemilia, after the first instance absolution, the sentence in appeal and the Cassation's decision to postpone it to a new appeal. And finally, on 11 July next, in a few days, the Gup of Bologna will rule on the request for deferral I presented by the prosecutor's office against 11 people, including public officials of the State, accused of violence or threat to a political, administrative or judicial body, with the aggravating circumstance of the mafia method, in competition with the then Senator Pdl Carlo Giovanardi, former member of the anti-mafia parliamentary commission. All in the aftermath of the earthquake, to obtain readmission on the Bianchini Costruzioni srl white list. The esteemed company that - for the accusation - used labor provided by the "ndrangheta.

Another company that falls into the hands of the Grande Aracri of Brescello, with a role in this case also played by the chief of chiefs Nicolino, is the company Vigna Dogarina srl ​​of Treviso, to which the Grande Aracri take away tons of wine for hundreds of thousands of euros that will never be paid, showing false credentials of false or real companies. In one case, they present the Dogarina with a three-million-euro guarantee that was apparently issued by Barclays Bank in 2013 and takes away a million bottles of prosecco. Too bad the surety was false.

Original (Italian) https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.il...zo-dei-soldi-finiva-ai-boss/5284212/amp/

Who were the most powerful ndrangheta families who are now defunct?

In Calabria, wind power has often been at the center of mafia interests, it is sufficient to recall the inquiry "Gone with the wind", which only a few months ago revealed the interference of the gangs in every sector linked to wind energy.

Messina Denaro is also big in wind energy, it annoyed Toto Riina wiretaps in prison recorded.

Drugs and 'Ndrangheta in Marcon, 170 years of convictions of cocaine rivers in the crates of fruit and fish.

The organization imported the drug from South America to Veneto and Lombardy. 20-year penalty for the boss Violi, 10 years for his brother-in-law Sculli.

Very good article in english about the case: https://www.occrp.org/en/unfinishedlives/the-cocaine-cowboys

There is not much info on the Nirta family from San Luca(not the one involved in the feud). If they are the real power of the ndrangheta then it is reasonable to believe that they are the perfect example of an ideal mafia family because they are not in the headlines and they very well could be the biggest earners in the mafia with political connections.

San Luca and Platì are the most important towns at least in the ceremonies of the 'ndrangheta, every locale needs permission from San Luca.

Has any locale tried to challenge them?

What constitutes the Nirta having that type of power over the rest of the ndrangheta families? Is it because they are such big players in the drug trade?

The 'ndrangheta is the most infiltrated in the North: which are the most "polluted" companies and why is it a brake on employment
Branched and exclusive presence in the North-West: from Emilia to Parma and Piacenza to all of Liguria, Piedmont, up to Brianza and the Varese area. In comparison, Cosa Nostra and Camorra appear to be more regional phenomena.

https://notizie.tiscali.it/politica/articoli/ndrangheta-infiltrata-nord-imprese-inquinate/

Does this mean more money or does it just point out that they are more spread out?

Both and more rooted.

Of the three large Italian criminal organizations, the Calabrian 'ndrangheta has infiltrated the legal economy of Northern Italy to a wider extent and deeper into control, says the Bank of Italy, thousands of companies and dozens of billions of turnover. With a precise territorial rooting. Mafia, camorra and 'ndrangheta, in fact, overlap substantially in large cities such as Milan, Rome, Bologna. But the Calabrians seem to have an almost capillary, branched and exclusive presence in the North-West: from the Emilia of Parma and Piacenza to the whole of Liguria, Piedmont, up to the Brianza and the Varesotto. In comparison, Cosa Nostra and the Camorra appear to be more regional phenomena and more linked to the South, as indeed results from their economic dynamics or - it would perhaps be more accurate to say - corporate. The 'ndrangheta, in fact, has, thanks also to its international projections in drug trafficking, a turnover (3.5 billion euros a year) almost double compared to the Sicilian mafia, but also much less linked to the territories of origin. The turnover of Cosa Nostra and the Camorra is 60 per cent linked to their activities in Sicily and Campania, respectively. For the 'ndrangheta, on the other hand, the quota originating in Calabria does not exceed 23 per cent.

If they make 3.5 billion from drugs, where is the rest of their money coming from? I know that nobody believes the 53 billion euro figure but if they are even close to that then where would the rest come from hypothetically?

Money laundering , arms trafficking , extortion , usury , racketeering , construction management , smuggling , counterfeiting , receiving stolen goods , theft , robbery , fraud , human trafficking , immigration , prostitution , tax evasion , public procurement , gambling , waste management , waste disposal toxic waste , kidnapping , corruption , murder , infiltration of the public administration.

The lion's share would be drugs and gambling though.

That’s a lot of money from different rackets. Are they into wind power like Denaro?

Yeah, because wind energy is a key sector for EU funding in particular now with the global climate debate.

Ndrangheta really seems to have their hands in everything. Now if one boss made a power play for every racket, he would be one of the richest and most powerful people in the world. A mafia don would compare to the financial giants of the world for the first time I think. But we know that would probably never happen.

The immigrants are very lucrative business in last few years, Salvatore Buzzi was recorded saying "drug trafficking earns less." referring to migrant crisis in Europe.

I agree it is a hugely profitable business. But I would put it behind the two others. Pretty ironic they hate migrants but I guess they love money more.

management of public works and monopoly over certain sectors even more (construction, waste disposal, food distribution, fruit/vegetable markets, fish market etc.)

Italian police seize 'astonishing' stash of explosives, guns and drugs in mafia stronghold

https://www.thelocal.it/20191016/italian-police-seize-astonishing-stash-of-explosives-guns-and-drugs

Does anyone think there will ever be a boss who can sit at the table with some of the most powerful people in the world? Or has there been already? In America or Italy. The reason I ask is because when Getty was negotiating with them to get his grandson back, he might have looked at them as peasants who think that they are businessmen. When in reality, he felt they would never reach his level. I am sure that provided some kind of motivation for the ndrangheta. Much like how the early american mobsters wanted to be like the Rockefellers or JP Morgans of the world.

They love money more than anything, if you can earn off anything ,they will do it ,no matter what.

Assets for 20 million euros were seized by the financiers of the Vibo Valentia Economic and Financial Police Unit from the 78-year-old boss Giovanni Mancuso, known as "Billy", in execution of a provision issued by the Court of Catanzaro at the request of the Dda.

The operation, called "Terra nostra", involved 92 lands, 16 buildings, 9 cars, a tractor, 2 farms and 2 sole proprietorships. Surveys, coordinated by Catanzaro's prosecutor Nicola Gratteri,revealed procedures for the passage of goods, which, according to the accusation, apparently respect the canons of legality but that in reality they hide the perverse mechanisms of the mafia method.

The Court of Assizes of Cosenza has inflicted a life sentence on Franco Presta , 58 years old, considering him responsible for the murder, in July 1999 near the prison of the chief town Bruzio, of Francesco Bruni called "bella-bella" boss of the homonymous Cosentino clan.

Presta, a native of Roggiano Gravina, was part of the Mafia directory that ruled the northern area of ​​Calabria.

Presta, captured by the police in Rende in 2012 after a period of inaction, is already serving another sentence to the maximum penalty imposed definitively for another murder consumed in the province of Cosenza in 2000.

The police of the provincial command of Vibo Valentia arrested a person in the context of the investigation into the murder of Carmelo Polito, shot to death in San Gregorio d'Ippona (Vv) in front of the 6-year-old son.
According to the indictment, it was Francesco Pannace, 32 years old from San Gregorio d'Ippona, who was already detained because he was involved in another heinous murder, that of Giuseppe Prostamo.

Polito was assassinated on March 1, 2011 in the town center with five 7.65 pistol shots before the eyes of his little son, who had miraculously escaped the ambush. The crime was immortalized by the video surveillance cameras installed in a nearby mechanical workshop.

Polito, according to investigators, was killed by the clan Fiare - to which the alleged killer would be tied as driver of the boss Rosario Fiare- an aggressive and violent person, already imprisoned in the psychiatric prison of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto for various crimes. He would have been "executed", in particular, for a slap given two years before to the uncle of the alleged killer.

The turncoat Alessandro "Sandrino" Covelli, 63, was wounded by gunshots in the back last night in Crotone.

A building contractor was killed yesterday evening in Reggio Calabria. The victim, Francesco Cuzzocrea, 61 years already known to the police, was on a piece of land in the north-east of the city when several shots were fired at him.