\n<\/p>\n
Hundreds of defendants were sentenced to prison on Monday in a case that prosecutors and experts said dealt a crucial blow to the Mafia in southern Italy and showed how the mob retains deep ties to cocaine trafficking, but also exerts control over the local economy and institutions through powerful politicians.<\/p>\n
The sentences marked a blow to the criminal syndicate known as \u2018Ndrangheta, by imprisoning leading members of the Mancuso crime family, a group based in the southern Italian city of Vibo Valentia that prosecutors say has strong links to criminal organizations in the United States and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
But they also showed how powerful the mobsters had gotten, steering local politics, local governments and even a former member of Italy\u2019s Parliament. <\/p>\n
Giancarlo Pittelli, who served in Parliament and was the regional coordinator of the center-right Forza Italia party when it was led by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, was found guilty of abetting the \u2018Ndrangheta from the outside and sentenced to 11 years in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The case also resulted in prison sentences for a lieutenant in the Carabinieri, Italy\u2019s military police force, and an official with the local finance police, as well as a former regional councilor and a former member of the Democratic Party\u2019s national assembly.<\/p>\n
The reading of the sentences of the over 330 defendants lasted more than an hour, and covered crimes ranging from extortion to money laundering, corruption, usury, murder and involvement in a criminal organization. <\/p>\n
But the trial also resulted in the acquittals of some members of local institutions, including a mayor, another former regional council member and some local police officials.<\/p>\n
The case began more than three years ago, when police raids against the Calabrian Mafia and their associates led to the arrests of more than 330 people in Italy, <\/span>Switzerland, Germany and Bulgaria.<\/p>\n The name of the law enforcement operation, \u201cRinascita Scott,\u201d or Rebirth Scott, paid homage to a U.S. drug agent who spent years pursuing \u2018Ndrangheta mobsters. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The \u2018Ndrangheta, while not the most well known Mafia group from Italy, is considered one of the most dangerous. <\/p>\n The crackdown on the internationally notorious Sicilian and southern Italian crime families goes back decades, and has severely depleted their power and influence. <\/p>\n