0:00:02 > 0:00:07This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11There's a new front line in the war against organised crime.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Carabinieri!
0:00:14 > 0:00:17'In southern Italy's rugged highlands,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20'a previously unknown criminal group meets.'
0:00:22 > 0:00:25It was just about here that some of the top bosses were standing
0:00:25 > 0:00:27having their secret meeting.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Called the Ndrangheta,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34its bosses are Europe's biggest cocaine traffickers.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Carabinieri!
0:00:36 > 0:00:39The police are fighting back,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41forcing Mafiosi underground...
0:00:43 > 0:00:45..into bizarre and sophisticated bunkers.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Holy moley.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00'From here, they run their criminal empires,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03'protected by a wall of silence.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06They dug up the whole street to bury their bunkers...
0:01:08 > 0:01:10..and nobody breathed a word!
0:01:14 > 0:01:17This is the story of a little-known Mafia,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21whose secret inner workings are only now coming to light.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39This is Calabria,
0:01:39 > 0:01:43a beautiful and blighted region at the very tip of Italy's boot.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49As a historian, I've spent years studying Italian organised crime.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Now I've come to this mountainous peninsula,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55a stone's throw from the island of Sicily,
0:01:55 > 0:02:00to investigate Italy's most mysterious and powerful Mafia,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02the Ndrangheta.
0:02:09 > 0:02:15The Cacciatore, the hunters, are an elite law-enforcement unit.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19They've agreed to take me deep into Ndrangheta territory.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Lieutenant Angelo Zizzi and his men
0:02:44 > 0:02:47often have to operate under the cover of darkness.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06'After two-and-a-half hours
0:03:06 > 0:03:09'we reach a small village high up in the mountains.
0:03:11 > 0:03:12'It's four in the morning.'
0:03:21 > 0:03:24With the mist on the mountains here, and the silence,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27there's something really spooky about this place.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36'Now abandoned, this house was once used as a base
0:03:36 > 0:03:38'by Calabrian criminals.'
0:04:08 > 0:04:12There's something fiendishly clever about this mechanism,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14the kind of James Bond villain fashion.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29'The concealed entrance leads to a narrow passage.'
0:04:32 > 0:04:34It's pretty tight in here.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39'This secret hideout was discovered almost by chance
0:04:39 > 0:04:43'when the team were pursuing a group of Ndranghetan gangsters.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52'When Zizzi and his team first entered,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55'there was no sign of the men they were after.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24'What they'd stumbled upon was not just one concealed bunker,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28'it was a whole warren of underground passageways,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30'false walls and secret rooms.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57'The tunnels fan out under the village,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00'linking hideouts and escape routes.'
0:06:00 > 0:06:03So the tunnel system was a kind of map of the Ndrangheta network
0:06:03 > 0:06:05in this village.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12'It's a claustrophobic maze, completely disorientating.'
0:06:26 > 0:06:28This is a completely different house.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31It's a completely different house.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35Another secret entrance under the stairs
0:06:35 > 0:06:39and we're into a completely new house.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Absolutely amazing.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47'By the time I got out, dawn had broken.'
0:06:49 > 0:06:52We came in somewhere over there!
0:06:54 > 0:06:57When the Cacciatore got into the first part of this system,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00there were six people in there.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02The Cacciatore had surrounded the whole area,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05and there was a chase through this bunker system
0:07:05 > 0:07:08with its different exits, each Cacciatore having to follow
0:07:08 > 0:07:11a different Ndranghetisti as he made his escape.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Three of the Ndranghetisti got away,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18and having been through that system of tunnels, I can really see why.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Building a subterranean labyrinth was a major enterprise.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Somebody must have noticed all the work going on,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31but not a soul told the authorities.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35For more than a century, the men of the Ndrangheta
0:07:35 > 0:07:39have been the undisputed authority in these mountain villages.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42To understand the nature of their dominance,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45you need to understand the geography of Calabria.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48And that means taking to the air.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57This is very exciting... for two reasons -
0:07:57 > 0:08:01one, because I've never been in a helicopter before,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03and two, because now we're going to see
0:08:03 > 0:08:06some of the wildest parts of Calabria from the air.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14We took off from the city of Reggio Calabria,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17one of the Mafia power bases on the coast.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21But the heart of Ndrangheta territory is Aspromonte,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23"the harsh mountain".
0:08:29 > 0:08:33There's no other word for Aspromonte but majestic.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35An extraordinary sight!
0:08:38 > 0:08:40Aspromonte is inaccessible.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45The law has never had much of a foothold here.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51The Ndrangheta is a secret society of criminals,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54and for a long time these remote mountain settlements
0:08:54 > 0:08:56have been its fortresses.
0:08:59 > 0:09:00In the 1970s and '80s,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03the Ndrangheta took to kidnapping for ransom,
0:09:03 > 0:09:08using these remote mountains to hide the captives,
0:09:08 > 0:09:09often for years.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Each of these villages is controlled by a different clan.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25If you know where to look, it's not hard to see who's in charge.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29We're about to fly over a villa
0:09:29 > 0:09:33that a Ndrangheta boss had built for himself. And he wanted it
0:09:33 > 0:09:39to look exactly like Tony Montana's villa in Scarface, the movie.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44I suppose all gangsters are gangster wannabes at heart.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54Today, the main source of the Ndrangheta's wealth and power
0:09:54 > 0:09:59lies 20 minutes' flight northwest, at the port of Gioia Tauro.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Opened in the 1990s,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Gioia Tauro is now the biggest container port in the Mediterranean.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14It should have been good news for this underdeveloped region.
0:10:39 > 0:10:40For the Ndrangheta,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44the port of Gioia Tauro is the hen that laid the golden eggs.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Extorting a protection payment on every container is just the start.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59The main illegal business here is smuggling.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05TRANSLATION: Ordinary commercial routes are used as Trojan horses.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09From bananas to frozen prawns,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12from iron to hazelnuts.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Any cargo shipped from South America to Europe,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18and the port of Gioia Tauro,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22can be used as cover for Ndrangheta's cocaine.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Thousands of containers pass through the port every day.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36It's impossible to check and scan more than a handful of them.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39The best chance of catching the cocaine shipment
0:11:39 > 0:11:41is through intelligence on the ground,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45but even there, the criminals are often one step ahead.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50TRANSLATION: The Ndrangheta plant their own men in the port.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Just like we watch them, they watch us.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01The sheer scale of this place is awe-inspiring.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03The ships are like tower blocks,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07the piles of containers go on for kilometres, and if you think
0:12:07 > 0:12:11that a big load of cocaine is about the size of a wardrobe,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13it makes it very clear that the old cliche
0:12:13 > 0:12:18about looking for a needle in a haystack just doesn't come close.
0:12:18 > 0:12:24It's estimated no more than 20% of the cocaine coming through the port
0:12:24 > 0:12:27is intercepted by the authorities.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30But even that amounts to an impressive haul.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18A 100,000 euros just for that,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20just for that and look at it.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23This is a whole wardrobe full of the stuff.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38And that's not all.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Wow!
0:13:55 > 0:13:58'Three tons of pure cocaine have been seized here
0:13:58 > 0:14:00'in the last two years.'
0:14:02 > 0:14:08And of course this is only a tiny part of the total amount of cocaine
0:14:08 > 0:14:12that's flooding through the port of Gioia Tauro.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15This is quite extraordinary.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21The Calabrian Mafia, the Ndrangheta, is today the biggest
0:14:21 > 0:14:24cocaine-trafficking syndicate in Europe.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28The trade is global, but some of the profits end up close to home.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Overlooking the port is the town of Rosarno -
0:14:34 > 0:14:37home to one of the Ndrangheta's most ruthless cells...
0:14:39 > 0:14:41..the Pesce clan.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Carabinieri Special Agent Giuseppe Lumia
0:14:56 > 0:14:59knows more about the Pesce clan than anyone.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14As well as cocaine-trafficking,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18the Pesce clan grew rich from extortion and fraud.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21In this small, rundown town,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24the clan members enjoyed the good life,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28none more so than their chief, Ciccio Pesce.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The house occupies a position like a baron's castle in the old days.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15At 30 years of age, Ciccio Pesce became the youngest known boss
0:16:15 > 0:16:19of an Ndrangheta clan. His swift rise to power
0:16:19 > 0:16:22was witnessed by a man who has since become one of the very few
0:16:22 > 0:16:26Calabrian Mafiosi to turn State witness.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30For security reasons, we can't reveal his identity.
0:16:30 > 0:16:31We'll call him Tony.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36What kind of man is Ciccio Pesce?
0:16:39 > 0:16:42TRANSLATION: I've known him since he was a child, Ciccio Pesce.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45When he was 14 or 15, on New Year's Eve,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48he went round town with his friends with some Kalashnikovs.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54He sprayed the streets and the shop shutters with bullets.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58There was no particular reason to do so. He just wanted to make a mess,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01because power was growing in his hands.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Extreme violence was the basis of Ciccio Pesce's power.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10TRANSLATION: People respected him out of fear.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12They were scared of rebelling,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15because he'd become the absolute ruler of our area.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20As one of the poorest regions in Europe,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Calabria received huge subsidies from the European Union
0:17:23 > 0:17:28for public construction works and farming. Mobsters like Ciccio Pesce
0:17:28 > 0:17:30have stolen much of that money.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Tony helped Pesce make millions through a colossal scam involving...
0:17:34 > 0:17:36oranges!
0:17:40 > 0:17:42TRANSLATION: The oranges had to be delivered to a plant,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45but we wouldn't take anything there.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49We would take the paperwork the night before, however,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52and in the morning it would be signed by corrupt officials,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54saying the oranges had been delivered.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58After 90 days, we would receive the funds for the oranges
0:17:58 > 0:18:00from the European Union.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07And how much did you make in an average year?
0:18:09 > 0:18:11TRANSLATION: I was small fry, but in a good year
0:18:11 > 0:18:15I could make 300,000 to 400,000 euros from oranges.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19And a boss like Ciccio Pesce, how much would he make?
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Someone like Ciccio Pesce, who owned the farms, the plants,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26the transport companies, everything -
0:18:26 > 0:18:29he'd make, out of the oranges scam alone,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32some five to six million euros a year.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37The clan would invest the money in drugs and weapons,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and they would double it, even treble it.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44The Ndrangheta is highly territorial.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46When they fall foul of the law,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50bosses like Ciccio Pesce very rarely take flight.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Instead, they go to ground close to home.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59TRANSLATION: The man of honour, the leader, never leaves his own turf.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08For them, a bunker is a investment if someone needs to lay low for a while,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11hoping the police will lose interest in them.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Many of these bunkers were made of old shipping containers,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21sunk into the soil of the orange groves
0:19:21 > 0:19:25and kitted out with everything a boss would need to lie low.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34Of course a bunker is only safe if its location is kept secret.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43In Calabria, where the Ndrangheta is more feared than the law,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47the blanket of silence known as Omerta
0:19:47 > 0:19:50is as thick as anywhere in Italy.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55So it's not surprising
0:19:55 > 0:19:58that not many people have broken the regime of Omerta.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03I'm on my way now to find out what happens when you do.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15I've been given an address some ten miles south of Rosarno.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27It looks like my arrival is being closely monitored.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40This fortified compound is where construction entrepreneur
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Gaetano Saffioti lives and works.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48'It's the only place Saffioti would agree to meet.'
0:20:48 > 0:20:50THEY EXCHANGE GREETINGS
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Saffioti's company grew from nothing
0:21:04 > 0:21:07into a multi-million-pound business
0:21:07 > 0:21:10until in 2002, the profits crashed.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22For years, like most businesses in the area,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Saffioti had paid regular extortion money to the Ndrangheta,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28but as he became more successful,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31they wanted more and more control.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35When he tried to buy a plot of land, the mobsters made their move.
0:21:37 > 0:21:38TRANSLATION: And then what happened?
0:21:38 > 0:21:40One night they set fire to my bulldozer
0:21:40 > 0:21:43to tell me, "You've done something you shouldn't have."
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Saffioti turned to the state for help,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49but he soon learned who's really in charge in Calabria.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53I went to report who'd done it,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56I was told perhaps it's better you keep that to yourself -
0:21:56 > 0:21:58you know how these things end up -
0:21:58 > 0:22:00and my heart sank.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05And so there is this facade of a state and there is this real state,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09paradoxically, the real state is the Ndrangheta.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12The campaign of intimidation escalated.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20In the middle of the day, they showed up and threatened my staff,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24including my brother. They gave him a tank of petrol and told him,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27"Pour this petrol over the vehicle and set it alight."
0:22:30 > 0:22:35Saffioti had been pushed to the edge. He decided to fight back.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48For months, Saffioti risked his life to capture his tormentors on film,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51as they came for their pay-off,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54on this occasion, several thousand pounds.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23In an unprecedented act,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Saffioti took this evidence to a public prosecutor.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30On the night of January 25th 2002,
0:23:30 > 0:23:3445 Ndrangheta members were arrested.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37But this was not the end of Saffioti's problems.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43When someone talks about one's life changing overnight,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45it may sound exaggerated.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50But in this case, my world was really turned upside down overnight.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54My 65 employees must have learnt about the arrests before they came
0:23:54 > 0:23:56out in the papers,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59because in the morning only five showed up for work.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05On the same day, all of our orders dried up.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11The banks closed my accounts, even the active ones,
0:24:11 > 0:24:15not just the overdrafts. Cancelling my overdrafts was bad enough,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18but I couldn't even withdraw my own money.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22It was completely absurd, I was ostracised by everyone,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25as if I'd become a terrible criminal.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Many of Saffioti's friends shunned him.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35In Calabria, even law-abiding citizens wouldn't risk defying
0:24:35 > 0:24:39the Ndrangheta by being seen with a man like him.
0:24:59 > 0:25:0445 bullets, one for each of the men that Saffioti had had arrested.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11And then the police turned up. They said, ""e are here for you,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14"because from now on, you're under protection."
0:25:15 > 0:25:16That was it.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19The beginning.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36The situation in Calabria can seem incomprehensible at first glance,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40but to really understand what's going on there, we need to take
0:25:40 > 0:25:45a step back, or rather take a trip across the straits to Sicily.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56This beautiful island has long been home to the notorious Cosa Nostra.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00For the last 30 years, the Italian state has been struggling to contain
0:26:00 > 0:26:04the most powerful criminal organisation in modern history.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20Coming to Palermo today, you have to make an effort to remember
0:26:20 > 0:26:24that 25 years ago, this was a city in the grip of terror.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28The bloodiest Mafia war in history was going on.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Hundreds of people were being killed, bodies were being left
0:26:32 > 0:26:36burning in the street or taken out to the sea and dumped.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Cosa Nostra was killing magistrates,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41policemen, journalists, politicians.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45That violence reached its savage climax
0:26:45 > 0:26:50with the 1992 bombing assassinations of anti-Mafia judges
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Cosa Nostra had declared war on the state
0:26:58 > 0:27:00and seemed to be winning.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08TRANSLATION: It felt like the country was on its knees.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11If they were able to blow up a motorway and kill magistrates
0:27:11 > 0:27:14under the highest level of protection
0:27:14 > 0:27:17and also kill our police colleagues escorting them,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21then I felt this was an extremely powerful and terrifying organisation
0:27:21 > 0:27:24which would stop at nothing.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31It's been a long, hard road for the state to win back credibility.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36A key success came in 2006 when, after 43 years on the run,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Cosa Nostra's boss of bosses was finally arrested.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44TRANSLATION: The uncatchable had been caught.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47In that moment, the people felt a burst of courage
0:27:47 > 0:27:50and wanted to show it by coming to our Palermo headquarters
0:27:50 > 0:27:53to express solidarity with us,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56and the belief that this battle could be won.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00If organised crime is to be defeated,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04ordinary people need to be empowered to resist.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07They have to believe that police and judges
0:28:07 > 0:28:09are not in the pay of the mobsters,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13and that those who stand up to the Mafia will be protected.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18Now, in Sicily, that is beginning to happen.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22We promote a sort of a rebellion, a cultural revolution again.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27Edoardo Zaffuto is one of the founders of a grass-roots anti-Mafia group.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Addio Pizzo, or Farewell Extortion,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34encourages ordinary Sicilians to come out and defy the Mafia.
0:28:36 > 0:28:41Cosa Nostra works like a shadow state, using extortion as its tax.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Sometimes the Mafia ask just 10, 15 euros per month,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51that's a nominal payment. It's important for the Mafia that here
0:28:51 > 0:28:55and at the fish shop, as well as the vegetable shop
0:28:55 > 0:28:57they accept to pay protection money.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01So how many people do you think actually pay protection money
0:29:01 > 0:29:06- in this market, for example? - 80% of er...- 80%?- Yes.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Just round the corner from the market
0:29:10 > 0:29:13is a shop selling traditional Sicilian caps.
0:29:15 > 0:29:20When we started our campaign we started to distribute these stickers
0:29:20 > 0:29:23to the shopkeepers that are member of our campaign.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26The stickers say, "I pay who does not pay."
0:29:26 > 0:29:31So in a sense, I support those who say no to the Mafia.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11It works like a sort of a beware to the dog sign,
0:30:11 > 0:30:16you know, so it says, as soon as you will dare to ask pizzo here,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20you will be immediately reported to the police. And the consumers
0:30:20 > 0:30:25they know for sure just seeing this sticker that in this shop, um,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29not a single cent, er, goes to the Mafia.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56800 businesses have joined Addio Pizzo's anti-extortion campaign.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00In the huge task of eradicating the Mafia scourge,
0:31:00 > 0:31:05this is a small start, but the potential is revolutionary.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13Back in Calabria, the anti-Mafia fight is a generation behind.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17In fact, as the state focused on Sicily,
0:31:17 > 0:31:19the Ndrangheta grew unchecked.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25TRANSLATION: While Cosa Nostra was committed to its strategy of terror,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28the Ndrangheta made a completely different choice.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33- TRANSLATION:- They were not interested in a war against the state.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36They bought the state. Piece by piece.
0:31:36 > 0:31:37They seeped into it.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40They didn't need to fight it.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45Ndrangheta remained in the shadows,
0:31:45 > 0:31:50and in the shadows it grew in strength, power, organisation.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53And above all, in wealth.
0:31:56 > 0:32:02The Calabrian Mafia thrived on neglect, unknown to the world.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06Even most Italians struggle to pronounce its name.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Until one night in 2007.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12On the 15th August,
0:32:12 > 0:32:16a frantic call was received in a small village in Calabria.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23A distraught caller asked for "The Mamma"...
0:32:25 > 0:32:28..codename for a notorious Ndrangheta boss.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56PHONE LINE DISCONNECTS
0:32:56 > 0:32:59This dramatic call was not made from Calabria.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01Not even from Italy.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03It came from 1,000 miles away.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09From the German city of Duisburg.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19- TRANSLATION:- They'd likely never seen anything like this in Germany.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24At the scene, there were two cars.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25Bodies splayed out,
0:33:25 > 0:33:29the acrid smell of cordite that we are so used to here.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32Blood running on the street.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34This is a German street.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39Clean, orderly, it's not the woods of Aspromonte.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Six men were murdered that night.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46In the pocket of one of the victims,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49baffled German police found a mysterious charred image.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Looking inside the pockets of those boys,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57they found an image of St Michael the Archangel,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59with a burnt hole in the centre.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02That's what's used in the initiation ceremony
0:34:02 > 0:34:05for young Ndrangheta members.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07That was the business card of the Ndrangheta.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12The dead men were Calabrian gangsters
0:34:12 > 0:34:16investing their criminal profits in German hotels and restaurants.
0:34:16 > 0:34:21But their murders were the result of a bloody feud back in Calabria.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26For the world it was like a slap in the face.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28What on earth is happening?
0:34:28 > 0:34:32Where do these people come from? Who are they?
0:34:32 > 0:34:35What is the Ndrangheta?
0:34:35 > 0:34:38The killings stunned the Italian state into action.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Seasoned anti-Mafia investigators were recruited to lead a crackdown.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51TRANSLATION: The Duisburg incident revealed
0:34:51 > 0:34:52how dangerous Ndrangheta was.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56And that made the state realise even more that it needed to act strongly
0:34:56 > 0:34:59and decisively. And so it did.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Within months, police rounded up the foot soldiers of the feuding clans.
0:35:08 > 0:35:09Grazie. Grazie.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11But a key boss remained at large,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15the ruthless, violent man nicknamed, "The Mamma".
0:35:21 > 0:35:24TRANSLATION: When listening to the phone tabs,
0:35:24 > 0:35:25we heard reference to "The Mamma".
0:35:25 > 0:35:28We knew it was their codename for Antonio Pelle.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31That's what he was known as.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34But the hunt for Antonio Pelle
0:35:34 > 0:35:37was to demonstrate just what investigators were up against.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43In Calabria, fugitive bosses usually hide within their own communities,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45protected by a wall of silence.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51It was more than a year before a heavily armed squad
0:35:51 > 0:35:54swooped on a deserted warehouse
0:35:54 > 0:35:57just outside Pelle's home town.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Nothing suggested there might be a bunker or anything like that,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Until we noticed something about part of the floor
0:36:08 > 0:36:10that made us suspicious.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Suddenly we see this platform coming up from the floor.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37And then we hear the fugitive's voice from below.
0:36:41 > 0:36:42Antonio Pelle.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05Below the hydraulic lift,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08police found a fully furnished living space.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16TRANSLATION: The bunker was perfectly organised, like a flat.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22It was one of the most sophisticated ever found in Calabria.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31He even had a greenhouse to grow cannabis.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33So his hobby, too, was taken care of.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43The capture of Antonio Pelle was a major coup.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45But when, two years later,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48he mysteriously managed to escape from custody,
0:37:48 > 0:37:50it became clear just how fragile
0:37:50 > 0:37:53any victory against the Ndrangheta can be.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Scouring the mountainsides for fugitive bosses is important.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16But to really attack the Ndrangheta, investigators needed to penetrate
0:38:16 > 0:38:18the deepest secrets of its structure.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28In 2009, they made a historic breakthrough.
0:38:28 > 0:38:29It came in a secluded valley...
0:38:32 > 0:38:34..at Polsi,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37home to one of the oldest shrines in Italy.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40BELL TOLLS
0:38:48 > 0:38:50The Madonna of Polsi.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53An object of religious veneration for centuries, a whole host
0:38:53 > 0:38:57of miracles have been attributed to this statue.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01Every year, a smaller wooden copy gets carried around the sanctuary
0:39:01 > 0:39:05here in procession, while women bellow ancient hymns
0:39:05 > 0:39:07and the crowd shouts, "Viva, Maria".
0:39:09 > 0:39:12This is one of the holiest places in Southern Italy, but it's also
0:39:12 > 0:39:16a place with a very sinister history.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23Thousands of believers come to this shrine every summer.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31It was long suspected that Mafiosi used the pilgrimage as cover,
0:39:31 > 0:39:33but for what?
0:39:33 > 0:39:35Then, in 2009,
0:39:35 > 0:39:40undercover agents spotted a very different kind of pilgrim.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47It's just about here on 2nd of September, 2009,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50that some of the top bosses in the Ndrangheta was standing
0:39:50 > 0:39:54in a circle, as Ndrangheta tradition dictates,
0:39:54 > 0:39:57having their secret meeting.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Little did they know that the Carabinieri were filming them.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05The men spoke in a quasi-religious code.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25TRANSLATION: The scene we witnessed in Polsi
0:40:25 > 0:40:27harks back to ancient rituals and mysticism.
0:40:27 > 0:40:33But really it has little to do with religion and more to do with crime.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40Investigators had filmed a scene that surpassed Hollywood fiction.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44The highest body of the Ndrangheta.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47In full session.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57This previously unknown ruling council had a name.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Il Crimine, "the crime".
0:41:07 > 0:41:09TRANSLATION: The Ndrangheta was believed to be
0:41:09 > 0:41:12a family-based organisation, with lots of families.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14Some more, some less organised,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18clashing with each other, making alliances...
0:41:21 > 0:41:26Instead, a new structure emerged. Hierarchical and pyramid-like.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28Similar to the Sicilian Mafia.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32With a provincial executive deciding the criminal strategy.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Not only here in Reggio Calabria, but also in Italy,
0:41:35 > 0:41:39Europe and around the world.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41What months of investigation revealed
0:41:41 > 0:41:44was a global Mafia federation,
0:41:44 > 0:41:49with an annual turnover estimated at 44 billion euros.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52If accurate, that figure would be the equivalent
0:41:52 > 0:41:57of 3% of Italy's entire economic output.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05The state offensive also revealed the extraordinary lengths
0:42:05 > 0:42:09that Ndrangheta bosses will go to protect their power.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13To evade capture and continue to operate,
0:42:13 > 0:42:15they've built hundreds of bunkers.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25Many are ingeniously concealed beneath water tanks.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Behind radiators.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Wine racks.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34Or apparently solid walls.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37The elite unit known as the Cacciatore,
0:42:37 > 0:42:42or "hunters", were keen to show me one of their particular favourites.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12And this has never cooked a single margarita in its life.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16And that was one of the clues that told the Cacciatore
0:43:16 > 0:43:20that there was something fishy about this particular oven.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34A door inside the oven slides back on tracks,
0:43:34 > 0:43:36revealing a 30-metre corridor dug deep
0:43:36 > 0:43:39into the hillside behind the house.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53Holy moley.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57This was once a rather nice bedroom suite
0:43:57 > 0:44:03complete with mirrors, stereo, TV,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06bedroom furniture, heater...
0:44:06 > 0:44:12This was clearly a perfectly decent living space once upon a time.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20So we've come through the pizza oven down the tunnel,
0:44:20 > 0:44:24through the bedroom, into the bathroom
0:44:24 > 0:44:29and there's another secret entrance here leading, who knows where.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32Here there are tunnels, leading to bunkers,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36leading to more tunnels, leading to more bunkers.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39There's a kind of madness at work here.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02The Ndrangheta has also dug itself deep into Calabrian society.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06And to do that, it draws on more than just violence and intimidation.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10Bribery, corruption and political patronage
0:45:10 > 0:45:14have won some key players over to the Ndrangheta's side.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21TRANSLATION: Unfortunately the characteristic of the Ndrangheta
0:45:21 > 0:45:23is that it's not only a criminal power,
0:45:23 > 0:45:27it also penetrates all layers of social and professional life.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33- TRANSLATION:- It's the collusion with politics, institutions
0:45:33 > 0:45:37and the business world, that's what strengthens the organisation.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44TRANSLATION: Power to buy people, power to offer someone a job,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48power to buy an official, a magistrate, a police officer.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50This is what money does.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56Calabria's institutions have been profoundly infiltrated.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00In 2012, the city council of Reggio Calabria
0:46:00 > 0:46:04was suspended by Italy's national government.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08The reason? Links to organised crime.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11The rise of the Pesce clan and its young boss, Ciccio,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14is a typical tale of Mafia power.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18TRANSLATION: Since we were kids, we've been taught
0:46:18 > 0:46:23that every man has his price. Ciccio Pesce was like the mayor.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27By 2010, investigators had amassed enough evidence
0:46:27 > 0:46:32to put Ciccio Pesce on trial, and raided his hilltop mansion.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38Here, too, they found a bunker.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42But of the boss himself, hardly any trace.
0:46:42 > 0:46:47It was evidence that the gangsters hold the real power in the region.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51TRANSLATION: If we don't catch a fugitive
0:46:51 > 0:46:54it is because the state has failed.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57And people can't quite comprehend why some fugitives
0:46:57 > 0:46:59can be on the run for so long.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06Catching Ciccio Pesce became an absolute priority.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10A special Carabinieri team began looking for a lead,
0:47:10 > 0:47:11and for a bunker.
0:47:11 > 0:47:17They concentrated on what they knew Ciccio Pesce could not live without.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21TRANSLATION: Football and beautiful women,
0:47:21 > 0:47:24it was difficult for him to bring a football pitch inside a bunker,
0:47:24 > 0:47:28but a woman would definitely have been easier.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31And so we concentrated on one woman in particular.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40This girl was different from all the others,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43because she had a lifestyle that didn't match her means.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53So the boyfriend must have been rich, but we didn't see one.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56She took too much care of herself to be a single woman.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00We studied her habits, we began to follow her day and night.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06For months, surveillance was trained
0:48:06 > 0:48:09on Ciccio Pesce's suspected mistress.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12Until one day, there was a breakthrough.
0:48:12 > 0:48:18A car turned up outside the woman's house.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20TRANSLATION: We recognised the driver,
0:48:20 > 0:48:22he was the armourer of the Pesce clan,
0:48:22 > 0:48:26a man in contact with Ciccio Pesce.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30The investigators thought this man could be carrying messages
0:48:30 > 0:48:32between Pesce and his mistress.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37They tracked him to an isolated scrap yard,
0:48:37 > 0:48:40a couple of miles outside Rosarno.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47TRANSLATION: Surveillance was difficult in this area,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50because there was no cover.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52It was impossible to go right up there
0:48:52 > 0:48:55and get a close look without being seen.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58This was a big problem for us.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Faced with such difficulties on the ground,
0:49:02 > 0:49:08those hunting the Ndrangheta bosses can now call on help from above.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19These observation windows are absolutely amazing,
0:49:19 > 0:49:23you can stick your head literally out of the fuselage of the aircraft
0:49:23 > 0:49:26and look straight down.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28The Italian Government has invested millions
0:49:28 > 0:49:32in state-of-the-art spy planes like this one.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28We're at something like 2,500 feet at the moment
0:50:28 > 0:50:31and when they do these extraordinary zooms,
0:50:31 > 0:50:35they tell me that even from several kilometres away,
0:50:35 > 0:50:38they can identify the number plate on a car.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01Investigators were trawling through all conceivable evidence
0:51:01 > 0:51:07about the scrap yard, suspected of being Pesce's lair.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10TRANSLATION: And so we began to get hold of satellite images
0:51:10 > 0:51:13of the previous two year period.
0:51:13 > 0:51:19We were looking to identify structural changes made to the area.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25And then we got lucky.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29The presence of a bulldozer, wooden boards to spread mortar,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33heaps of cement mix, sand, the cement mixer...
0:51:33 > 0:51:38The photo showed that six months earlier, builders had been at work,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41but there was no evidence of any new buildings.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43At least not ABOVE ground.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26In fact, as the Carabinieri entered
0:52:26 > 0:52:29and searched every inch of the compound,
0:52:29 > 0:52:32secret cameras were trained on THEM.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35The owner of the compound finally appeared
0:52:35 > 0:52:39and reluctantly led Lumia and his men to a chicken coup.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49A few moments later, the trapdoor opens.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56TRANSLATION: He comes out and he's white, like a corpse.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59He's lost 15 kilos.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02But we had recognised his voice when he'd shouted from the tomb
0:53:02 > 0:53:04in which he'd buried himself for months.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08We'd got him.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19The hunt for one of Italy's most dangerous men was over.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47The bunker had been Pesce's command centre for months.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56Through a dozen CCTV cameras, he watched his hunters closing in.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00That gave him just enough time to destroy any incriminating evidence.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30Pesce has begun a 20-year prison sentence.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34Now the Italian state is putting 64 alleged members
0:54:34 > 0:54:37of his clan on trial.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41Ironically, they're being tried in a so called bunker courtroom,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45bomb-proof and several metres underground.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55This is one of the first major trials against the Ndrangheta
0:54:55 > 0:54:58since its secret structure was revealed.
0:54:58 > 0:55:03The state is trying to show that it can fight the Mafia and win.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07The stakes are high and not only for Italy.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13TRANSLATION: Ndrangheta clones its own criminal structure, multiplies it
0:55:13 > 0:55:16and plants itself in new territories.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22In Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Germany.
0:55:25 > 0:55:31There is no bit of territory, no social category which is immune
0:55:31 > 0:55:37from the possibility of contagion by the Ndrangheta, by the Mafia.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39There isn't any.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43But even the vast resources being poured into the fight
0:55:43 > 0:55:48against the Ndrangheta can only begin to tackle the problem.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52TRANSLATION: We can arrest 100, 200, 300
0:55:52 > 0:55:56but there will always be offspring ready to take the reins of the clan.
0:55:58 > 0:56:03Until Calabrian society stops shaking the hand of the Mafioso,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06pretending not to know he is a Mafioso.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11Until that happens, there's no chance of uprooting the weed.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20- TRANSLATION:- The battle in Calabria is still tough.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22It's still difficult.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25In Sicily, it took years of fighting to get results.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29Public opinion, the people must be reassured the state is strong.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Credible and in charge.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36In Calabria, the road is still long.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42It's more than ten years since businessman Gaetano Saffioti
0:56:42 > 0:56:46took his brave stand and defied the Ndrangheta.
0:56:46 > 0:56:52He is still a pariah and a prisoner in his own community.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56TRANSLATION: Here WE are in a kind of bunker.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59It's the price you have to pay.
0:56:59 > 0:57:05I pay this willingly for what I set out to achieve.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07But only when there are many of us,
0:57:07 > 0:57:10then I'll be able to call myself completely free.
0:57:10 > 0:57:15Free to walk around like everyone else, to go for a ride on my bike.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19To go to the beach, to watch the sea and swim.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24All these things that normal people do, but I'm prevented from doing.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27Sooner or later, it will happen.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31We need more time, but it will happen.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33I'm sure of it.
0:57:52 > 0:57:57What I've seen in Calabria are scenes from a war,
0:57:57 > 0:58:01a war that the rest of the world doesn't even know is going on.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04The tragedy of this land is that it took so long
0:58:04 > 0:58:08for the Italian state to begin a serious fight back.
0:58:08 > 0:58:14But having seen what I've seen on this journey, I have a hope,
0:58:14 > 0:58:20a belief, that the tide of history has finally begun to turn.
0:58:30 > 0:58:34Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd