In a sweeping judgment that marks one of the most consequential blows ever dealt to organized crime in Europe, Italy’s Court of Reggio Calabria has handed down sentences totaling more than 1,000 years in prison to dozens of members of the notorious ’Ndrangheta syndicate. The verdict, announced on October 21, follows a years-long multinational investigation and represents a historic milestone in Europe’s battle against the continent’s most powerful and secretive criminal organization.

The court’s ruling comes as part of the first judicial decision in a massive ’Ndrangheta trial – described by prosecutors as one of the largest mafia cases since the legendary “Maxi Trial” against the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in the 1980s. Out of hundreds of accused individuals, 76 defendants had requested an abbreviated procedure, leading to a faster trial in exchange for reduced sentences. Even so, the combined punishments amounted to 1,098 years of imprisonment and roughly 440,000 euros ($510,650) in fines, according to the European Union’s judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust.

The case originates from an unprecedented multinational operation in 2023 that brought together law enforcement authorities from nine countries – Belgium, Germany, Portugal, France, Spain, Romania, Slovenia, Brazil, and Panama – under the coordination of Eurojust and Europol. The joint operation targeted the ’Ndrangheta’s transnational drug trafficking and money laundering infrastructure, which had evolved into a global criminal enterprise.

On May 3, 2023, more than 2,700 officers carried out synchronized raids across Europe and South America, seizing assets, shuttering........

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