For years, Slovakia has grappled with the lingering ghosts of corruption, opaque land deals, and unexplained fortunes. But a recent joint investigation by OCCRP member centers has reopened one of the country’s most sensitive wounds: the infiltration of alleged ’Ndrangheta-linked figures into its agricultural and business sectors. What began as the unfinished work of murdered investigative journalist Ján Kuciak has now evolved into a multilayered expose revealing how several Italian businessmen – some convicted, others under investigation – quietly built a presence in eastern Slovakia.

At the center of the story sits Antonino Vadalà, a name already familiar to Slovaks due to his indirect role in the political crisis that shook the nation in 2018. Though once suspected of involvement in a fraudulent EU subsidies scheme, Vadalà has now been definitively convicted in Italy for cocaine trafficking carried out as part of a criminal organization tied to the powerful ’Ndrangheta mafia. Yet the renewed investigation shows that Vadalà was never alone: at least two more Italians with mafia-linked backgrounds established businesses in the same Slovak region where Vadalà once operated.

The findings shed new light on how organized crime networks, especially Italy’s notorious Calabrian mafia, have long sought quiet footholds across Central and Eastern Europe – taking advantage of lax oversight, weak enforcement, and lucrative EU funds.

To understand the relevance of the new findings, one must revisit 2018, when Slovakia was plunged into turmoil. Ján Kuciak, a 27-year-old reporter for Aktuality.sk, was investigating misuse of agricultural subsidies, suspicious land ownership structures, and alleged mafia infiltration. His reporting pointed to connections between Italian businessmen in eastern Slovakia and individuals close to then-Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government.

Before he........

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