An Italian judge has ordered the trial of more than 140 people for their parts in assisting the southern-based ’Ndrangheta mafia infiltrate northern parts of Italy.
Judge Francesca Zavaglia set a trial date of 23 March.
A further 71 individuals who also are accused of ties to the mobsters in the so-called Aemilia case will have a separate fast-track trial starting on 11 January.
Almost 240 people were investigated by the police. Many of them were suspected of having helped the ’Ndrangheta profit illegally from reconstruction projects undertaken in the Emilia Romagna region after two deadly earthquakes hit in 2012.
Police describe the crime group as the most active, richest and most powerful syndicate in Europe. They suspect the group uses legitimate activities in the richer north of the country as a front to launder vast sums of cash from their drug trade.
The crime group is said to control a great deal of the world’s cocaine trade and has been expanding into the north for the last thirty years.
Among those indicted are gangster bosses, businessmen and ex-footballer Vincenzo Iaquinta, a former Juventus player who played for Italy when it won the World Cup in 2006, and his father, according to reports.
