The trial took place in a high-security courtroom in Calabria, designed to accommodate a significant number of defendants, lawyers, and witnesses.

Though more than 100 individuals were acquitted, the sentences dealt a significant blow to the ‘Ndrangheta, a crime syndicate dominant in Europe’s cocaine trade.

The trial can be traced back to an investigation that began in 2016, culminating in December 2019 with hundreds of arrests, including of a former Forza Italia MP, Giancarlo Pittelli, who received an 11-year jail sentence.

Nicola Gratteri, the anti-mafia prosecutor who spearheaded the investigation, compared the trial’s scale to the Palermo maxi trials of 1986-92. Mr Gratteri’s team gathered substantial evidence, including 24,000 wiretaps, revealing the ‘Ndrangheta’s grip on the poor rural area of Vibo Valentia through violence, extortion, and corruption.

The trial exposed the ‘Ndrangheta’s methods of instilling fear, with members known by nicknames like “The Wolf” and “Lamb Thigh”. They employed tactics like dumping dead animals on doorsteps and physical assaults to maintain control.

Mr Gratteri, who was nominated Naples’s chief prosecutor this year, said: “We are very satisfied. We have finally demonstrated that there was a network of white-collar workers, entrepreneurs, and politicians doing business with Calabrian clans.”