It's the biggest Mafia trial Italy has seen in decades—with the added challenge of COVID-19 precautions. The "maxi-trial" of hundreds of members of the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate began Wednesday in a fortified 1,000-capacity courtroom in Calabria, the heart of the group's territory, the Guardian reports. Many of the 355 defendants will attend via videolink from prisons, while others will be in cages, wearing masks and sitting 6 feet apart. Most of the defendants were arrested in raids in December 2019 following a years-long investigation of the syndicate, which became the dominant organized crime group in Italy after the decline of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. The last Mafia trial on this scale involved 475 Cosa Nostra defendants and lasted from 1986 to 1992. More:
- The defendants. The investigation targeted the Mancuso crime family. Its alleged boss, 66-year-old Luigi Mancuso, is the highest-profile defendant, the BBC reports. Others include allegedly corrupt police officers and government officials, along with mobsters with nicknames like "Wolf," "Fatty," and "Blondie." Another 92 defendants will be tried in a fast-tracked trial starting later this month. Most were arrested in Italy, though some were picked up in raids in countries including Germany and Switzerland.