The Mafia. Podcast By Popular Culture and Religion. cover art

The Mafia.

The Mafia.

By: Popular Culture and Religion.
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The Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, is a highly structured, secret criminal organization originating in 19th-century Sicily and expanding to the U.S. in the early 1900s. Characterized by strict codes of silence (omerta) and loyalty, these groups engage in extortion, drug trafficking, gambling, and labor racketeering.Copyright Popular Culture and Religion. Biographies & Memoirs Social Sciences True Crime World
Episodes
  • 20 - The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 4.

    20 - The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 4.
    Mar 24 2026
    The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 4. Spain. According to Giuseppe Lombardo, Public Prosecutor at the Anti-Mafia District Directorate of Reggio Calabria, the ‘Ndrangheta has established a strong and discreet presence in Spain, which he describes as the crossroads of international drug trafficking in Europe. For decades, the 'Ndrangheta has maintained branches and operatives in Spain, engaging in business with various criminal organizations, including Latin American drug cartels, Chinese triads, and local Galician mafias. Unlike other criminal organizations competing for influence in the region, the ‘Ndrangheta’s stability and international connections allow it to act as a key intermediary in major illegal operations. Spain’s legal system, which lacks specialized anti-mafia laws and has relatively lenient controls over assets and finances compared to Italy, provides a fertile ground for such activities. Geographically, Spain’s extensive maritime borders and proximity to North Africa further enhance its strategic value for illicit trade. Javier Zaragoza, Chief Prosecutor of Spain’s National Court, acknowledges that if organized crime in Spain reached the levels seen in Italy, the country would need to adopt similar legal measures. Meanwhile, Jesus Duva, editor-in-chief at El País, admits that Spanish media rarely report on the ‘Ndrangheta due to limited information, which inadvertently benefits the mafia by keeping its operations under the radar and enabling its dominance in international drug trafficking. In 2022, a major joint operation in Spain led to the arrest of 32 individuals linked to the ‘Ndrangheta for drug trafficking and money laundering. Coordinated by the Guardia Civil, Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza, Europol, and Eurojust, the operation included 40 property searches across Ibiza, Barcelona, Málaga, and Tenerife. Authorities seized €300,000 in cash, drugs (amphetamines and cocaine), firearms, and dismantled a cannabis plantation. The criminal network operated between Spain and Italy, using vehicles and speedboats to transport drugs. Linked to multiple murders and acts of violence, the group laundered illicit profits through Spanish real estate. Europol provided intelligence support, while Eurojust facilitated judicial coordination. In August 2025, three members of the ‘Ndrangheta were arrested in Ibiza while attempting to establish a local cell in eastern Spain. The suspects, in their thirties and with prior criminal records, were wanted by Italian authorities for drug trafficking and criminal organization. They had been active in Spain for about a year, operating mainly in Catalonia and the Levante region. The arrests followed a joint operation by Spain’s National Police and Italy’s Carabinieri, based on European Arrest Warrants. Searches in Ibiza and Barcelona yielded €35,000 in cash, valuable jewelry (including a watch worth €120,000), false identity documents, narcotics, mobile devices, and other evidence. These fugitives fled Italy months before the conclusion of the “Anemone” investigation, which dismantled a ‘Ndrangheta cell in Rome linked to international drug trafficking and allied with Albanian criminal groups. The organization is known for its secrecy, family ties, and violent enforcement, including torture. Spanish authorities have been monitoring the ‘Ndrangheta’s expansion since 2024, recognizing Spain’s strategic geographic position as key for the mafia’s growth. The operation, involving specialized tactical units, highlighted the importance of fluid international cooperation. Switzerland. The crime syndicate has a significant presence in Switzerland since the early 1970s but has operated there with little scrutiny due to the inconspicuous lifestyles of their members, the Swiss legal landscape, and solid foundations in local businesses. In the aftermath of the San Luca feud in 2007 and subsequent arrests in Italy (Operation "Crimine"), it became clear that the group had also infiltrated the economically proliferous regions of Switzerland and Southern Germany. In March 2016, Swiss law enforcement in cooperation with Italian state prosecutors arrested a total of 15 individuals, 13 in the city of Frauenfeld, 2 in the canton of Valais, accusing them of active membership to an organized crime syndicate also known as "Operazione Helvetica". Since 2015, the Swiss federal police has conducted undercover surveillance and recorded the group's meetings in a restaurant establishment in a small village just outside of Frauenfeld. The meetings were taking place in a relatively remote location using the now defunct entity the "Wängi Boccia Club" as its cover. According to the Italian prosecutor Antonio De Bernardo, there are several cells operating within the jurisdiction of the Swiss Federation, estimating the number of operatives per cell to about 40, and a couple of 100 in total. All of the arrested persons are Italian ...
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    10 mins
  • 19 - The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 3.

    19 - The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 3.
    Mar 24 2026
    The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 3. Canada. During a press conference in Vaughan, Ontario, Fausto Lamparelli of the Italian State Police, offered this comment about the relationship between the 'Ndrangheta in Ontario and Calabria: "This investigation allowed us to learn something new. The 'Ndrangheta crime families in Canada are able to operate autonomously, without asking permission or seeking direction from Italy. Traditionally, 'Ndrangheta clans around the world are all subservient to the mother ship in Calabria. It suggests the power and influence the Canadian-based clans have built." On 9 August 2019, as part of the same joint investigation, several former Greater Toronto Area residents were arrested in Calabria, including Giuseppe DeMaria, Francesco Commisso, Rocco Remo Commisso, Antonio Figliomeni and Cosimo Figiomeni. Vincenzo Muià had visited Toronto on 31 March 2019 to meet with Angelo and Cosimo Figliomeni, seeking answers to who had ambushed and killed his brother, Carmelo Muià, in Siderno on 18 January 2018; Muià's smartphone was unwittingly and secretly transmitting his closed-door conversations to authorities in Italy. In 2020, the charges laid against three individuals as a result of Project Sindicato were "stayed" (the prosecution discontinued), unless the prosecutors could find new evidence and proceeded with the charges again within one year. In January 2021, the charges against the remaining six were also stayed, including that of Angelo Figliomeni, "the head of the 'Ndrangheta in Toronto" according to York Regional Police. The charges were stayed after an investigation "into the use of the privileged conversations" that found "improper use of wiretapping" and "significant breaches of solicitor-client privilege". All property seized by police must now be returned – with the exception of illegal possessions. Colombia. The 'Ndrangheta clans were closely associated with the AUC paramilitary groups led by Salvatore Mancuso, a son of Italian immigrants; he surrendered to Álvaro Uribe's government to avoid extradition to the U.S. According to Giuseppe Lumia of the Italian Parliamentary Antimafia Commission, 'Ndrangheta clans are actively involved in the production of cocaine. The Mancuso 'ndrina is a powerful 'Ndrangheta family. Germany. According to a study by the German foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, 'Ndrangheta groups are using Germany to invest cash from drugs and weapons smuggling. Profits are invested in hotels, restaurants and houses, especially along the Baltic coast and in the eastern German states of Thuringia and Saxony. Investigators believe that the mafia's bases in Germany are used primarily for clandestine financial transactions. In 1999, the state Office of Criminal Investigation in Stuttgart investigated an Italian from San Luca who had allegedly laundered millions through a local bank, the Sparkasse Ulm. The man claimed that he managed a profitable car dealership, and authorities were unable to prove that the business was not the source of his money. The Bundeskriminalamt concluded in 2000 that "the activities of this 'Ndrangheta clan represent a multi-regional criminal phenomenon." A war between the two 'Ndrangheta clans Pelle-Romeo (Pelle-Vottari) and Strangio-Nirta from San Luca that had started in 1991 in their home town in Calabria and resulted in several deaths, spilled into Germany in 2007; six men were shot dead in front of an Italian restaurant in Duisburg on 15 August 2007. In 2009, a confidential report by the Bundeskriminalamt said some 'Ndrangheta families were living in Germany, and were involved in gun-running, money laundering, drug-dealing and racketeering, as well as legal businesses. Some 900 people were involved in criminal activity, and were also legal owners of hundreds of restaurants, as well as being major players in the property market in the former East. The most represented 'Ndrangheta family originated from the city of San Luca (Italy), with some 200 members in Germany. According to the head of the German federal police service, Jörg Ziercke, "Half of the criminal groups identified in Germany belong to the 'Ndrangheta. It has been the biggest criminal group since the 1980s. Compared to other groups operating in Germany, the Italians have the strongest organization." Netherlands. Sebastiano Strangio allegedly lived for 10 years in the Netherlands, where he managed his contacts with Colombian cocaine cartels. He was arrested in Amsterdam on 27 October 2005. The seaports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are used to import cocaine. The Giorgi, Nirta and Strangio clans from San Luca have a base in the Netherlands and Brussels (Belgium). In March 2012, the head of the Dutch National Crime Squad (Dienst Nationale Recherche, DNR) stated that the DNR will team up with the Tax and Customs Administration and the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service to combat the 'Ndrangheta. Malta....
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    8 mins
  • 18 - The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 2.

    18 - The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 2.
    Mar 24 2026
    The 'Ndrangheta, Outside Italy, part 2. Canada. According to a May 2018 news report, "Siderno's Old World 'Ndrangheta boss sent acolytes to populate the New World" including Michele (Mike) Racco who settled in Toronto in 1952, followed by other mob families. By 2010, investigators in Italy said that Toronto's 'Ndrangheta had climbed "to the top of the criminal world" with "an unbreakable umbilical cord" to Calabria. The Canadian 'Ndrangheta is believed to be involved in various activities including the smuggling of unlicensed tobacco products through ties with criminal elements in cross-border Native American tribes. According to Alberto Cisterna of the Italian National Anti-Mafia Directorate, the 'Ndrangheta has a heavy presence in Canada. "There is a massive number of their people in North America, especially in Toronto. And for two reasons. The first is linked to the banking system. Canada's banking system is very secretive; it does not allow investigation. So Canada is the ideal place to launder money. The second reason is to smuggle drugs." The 'Ndrangheta have found Canada a useful North American entry point. The organization used extortion, loan sharking, theft, electoral crimes, mortgage and bank fraud, crimes of violence and cocaine trafficking. A Canadian branch labelled the Siderno Group has been active in Canada since the 1950s; it was formed originally by Michele (Mike) Racco, who was the head of the Group until his death in 1980. Siderno is also home to one of the 'Ndrangheta's biggest and most important clans, heavily involved in the global cocaine business and money laundering. Antonio Commisso, the alleged leader of the Siderno group, is reported to lead efforts to import "illicit arms, explosives and drugs". Elements of 'Ndrangheta have been reported to have been present in Hamilton, Ontario as early as 1911. Historical crime families in the Hamilton area include the Musitanos, Luppinos and Papalias. According to an agreed Statement of Fact filed with the court, "the Locali [local cells] outside of Calabria replicate the structure from Calabria, and are connected to their mother-Locali in Calabria. The authority to start Locali outside Calabria comes from the governing bodies of the organization in Calabria. The Locali outside of Calabria are part of the same 'Ndrangheta organization as in Calabria, and maintain close relationships with the Locali where its members come from." The group's activities in the Greater Toronto Area were controlled by a group known as the 'Camera di Controllo' which "makes all of the final decisions", according to the witness' testimony. It consists of six or seven Toronto-area men, who co-ordinate activities and resolves disputes among Calabrian gangsters in Southern Ontario. In 1962, Racco established a crimini or Camera di Controllo in Canada with the help of Giacomo Luppino and Rocco Zito. One of the members was Giuseppe Coluccio, before he was arrested and extradited to Italy. Other members are Vincenzo DeMaria, Carmine Verduci before his death, and Cosimo Stalteri before his death. In August 2015, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) issued a deportation order for Carmelo Bruzzese. Bruzzese appealed the decision to Canada's Federal Court, but it was rejected, and on 2 October 2015, Bruzzese was escorted onto a plane in Toronto, landing in Rome, where he was arrested by Italian police. Major Giuseppe De Felice, a commander with the Carabinieri, told the IRB that Bruzzese "assumed the most important roles and decisions. He gave the orders." After living in Richmond Hill, Ontario for five years until 2010, Antonio Coluccio was one of 29 people named in arrest warrants in Italy in September 2014. Police said they were part of the Commisso 'ndrina ('Ndrangheta) crime family in Siderno. In July 2018, Coluccio was sentenced to 30 years in prison for corruption. His two brothers, including Salvatore and Giuseppe Coluccio, were already in prison due to Mafia-related convictions. In June 2018, Cosimo Ernesto Commisso, of Woodbridge, Ontario, and an unrelated woman were shot and killed in his vehicle whilst outside his home. According to sources contacted by the Toronto Star, "Commisso was related to Cosimo "The Quail" Commisso of Siderno, Italy, who has had relations in Ontario, is considered by police to be a "'Ndrangheta organized crime boss". The National Post reported that Cosimo Ernesto Commisso, while not a known criminal, "shares a name and family ties with a man who has for decades been reputed to be a Mafia leader in the Toronto area". The cousin of "The Quail", Antonio Commisso, was on the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy until his capture on 28 June 2005, in Woodbridge. In June 2015, RCMP led police raids across the Greater Toronto Area, named Project OPhoenix, which resulted in the arrest of 19 men, allegedly affiliated with the 'Ndrangheta. In March 2018, during the resultant criminal trial north of Toronto, the ...
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    10 mins
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