More than 200 convicted in Italy’s maxi-trial involving the ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate

By GIADA ZAMPANO and PAOLO SANTALUCIA
Associated Press

LAMEZIA TERME, Italy (AP) — An Italian tribunal has convicted 207 people and sentenced them to a combined 2,100 years in prison on charges related to their membership in Italy’s ’ndrangheta organized crime syndicate. It took over an hour and 40 minutes to read aloud the court’s findings Monday. A further 131 people were acquitted. The trial started almost three years ago in the southern Calabria region, where the mob organization was originally based. The ’ndrangheta quietly amassed power in Italy and abroad as the Sicilian Mafia lost influence and it is now considered one of the world’s most powerful, extensive and wealthy drug-trafficking groups.