Calabrian Mafia - a large and growing player of power

When the Nicola Assisi boss was arrested in Sao Paolo in June this year, after five years in flight, the close partnership again shed light on the close partnership between the Calabrian Ndrangheta Mafia, which Assisi belongs to, and the powerful Brazilian crime syndicate PCC.

Assisi was arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling, and is believed to have acted as Ndrangheta's man in South America. The PCC supplies large quantities of cocaine from Bolivia, mostly devoted to the European market.

No other criminal organization has reached as far with its tentacles in recent decades as precisely 'Ndrangheta, according to Nicola Gratteri, an Italian prosecutor who has been chasing the mafia for decades:

"'Ndrangheta is the only criminal organization present on all the continents of the world: Western Europe, North America, South America, Africa. And now they are also establishing themselves in Eastern Europe and Asia, ”Gratteri told reporters in Rome recently.

'Ndrangheta has sprung from Calabria in southern Italy, and consists of hundreds of family-based gangs that, in recent decades, have managed to spread their influence to the rich and industrialized northern Italy, and beyond.

Cocaine and heroin are 'Ndrangheta's main sources of income, alongside extortion and money laundering. The very word 'Ndrangheta comes from Greek and means roughly brave man .

According to a 2013 study, the organization makes more money annually than both Deutsche Bank and McDonald's together. 'Ndrangheta's turnover was estimated six years ago to over the equivalent of SEK 550 billion, and today is hardly lower.

The Calabrian crime syndicate exists wherever money can be made. They have infiltrated almost every profitable part of Italy's business, and have their fingers in everything from tourism and energy production to healthcare, construction and food production.

Anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri warns that 'Ndrangheta, and other Italian criminal organizations may be on the verge of further expanding their power:

"Today they invest in restaurants and hotels," he says, "but tomorrow they can buy into news magazines and TV channels so that they can influence public opinion."

Italy's newly-appointed Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese has also warned of the development. The Mafia groups, and especially 'Ndrangheta, are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their methods, and increasingly skilled at infiltrating not only business but also politics and the judiciary.

'Ndrangheta has always kept a low profile, and is not top-run in the same way as the more famous Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra. It makes' Ndrangheta harder for the police to access.

In addition to Calabrian 'Ndrangheta and Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the looser compound Neapolitan mafia Camorran and the smaller group Sacra Corona Unita from Apulia are also active in Italy.

In recent years, most countries in Europe and the world have focused on fighting terrorism. When intelligence services mostly had jihadists in the binoculars, it has meant that criminal organizations such as' Ndrangheta, with their low profile, have been able to grow stronger. It is a development that Italian writer and mafia expert Antonio Nicaso has long warned about:

"The Mafia has always sought tax havens, now they are seeking legal paradise where there is no specific legislation against organized crime," he said in an interview with the AFP news agency.

'Ndrangheta boss Nicola Assisi, who was arrested in Brazil this summer, has of course already been replaced as the man of Calabash in South America. With a steady demand for cocaine in Europe, 'Ndrangheta's turnover will continue to be able to compete with legitimate international large companies.