Original subtitles

"Mafia."

You hear that word, and you think you know what it means.

But behind that word lie empires of crime

with their own laws,

their own rituals, their own code.

My name is Max Serio, Italian filmmaker.

I've been obsessed with organised crime my whole life.

And I got this deep feeling that, at the top of every country,

every system,

there's always a mafia mentality.

I decided to go meet the people

who live in these organisations from inside,

to understand how they manage to stay on top for so long.

A camera, an address book -

and I'll take you in the most

dangerous criminal organisations in the world.

The Chinese Triads, the Japanese Yakuza,

the fearsome 'Ndrangheta in Calabria,

and the Vory, the Russian mafia.

I will show you the rules and rituals

they have in common,

and those that make them unique.

No lies.

No bullshit.

We're not just talking about crime.

We're talking about power, respect,

loyalty sealed in blood

and held together by fear.

This... is Mafia.

♪ THE FLIGHT: The Stranger And His Wife ♪

♪ Waking up I see them clear

♪ Floating down the river...

♪ And hanging from the trees

♪ Hide away from all we fear...

♪ Holding her cold hands

♪ No one can understand except for me

♪ La-la-la-la

♪ La-la-la-la

♪ La-la-la-la ♪

A massacre that shocked the world.

Six Italians, one of whom was only 16 years old,

lay dead in the street.

Most people had never heard of the 'Ndrangheta before that night...

...a criminal organisation that has always chosen

to operate in the shadows,

far from the eyes of the public and law enforcement.

And it is precisely this invisibility that is its strength,

what has allowed it to rise from nothing

and become one of the most ruthless and wealthy

criminal organisations the world has ever known.

The 'Ndrangheta was born here in Calabria,

in the deep south of Italy.

A beautiful rural province far from everything.

And yet, from this small outpost,

it has extended its tentacles all over the world.

It first emerged in the 1800s

when local landowners called upon it

to protect their territories from usurpers.

Back then, it was called the Sect of the Knifers...

...born to serve the ruling classes

to do their dirty work.

The expansion of the 'Ndrangheta followed

the waves of Italian emigration,

first to the United States at the end of the 1800s.

And then, it never stopped.

Canada, Australia, Northern Italy,

Germany, Colombia.

It didn't just expand.

It infected.

And if you mess up, they feed you to the pigs.

Literally.

The most powerful criminal organisation in the world.

Yet, until recently,

no one had ever heard of it.

No money, no connections, nothing.

Yet, these men end up controlling

half the planet's cocaine

across six continents

without anyone seeing them coming.

But how did they do it?

That's exactly what I want to understand.

I'm with an elite unit of the Italian army,

the Cacciatori di Calabria.

And it all starts here, the Aspromonte...

...a vast mountain range

over 700 square kilometres

in the heart of Calabria.

Dense forests, inaccessible areas,

perfect territory for the 'Ndrangheta's business.

In the beginning, it was stolen livestock from the fields,

loot from robberies.

But the Aspromonte had bigger secrets to keep.

After the war, everything changes. Bigger ambitions.

They find something more valuable than livestock:

people.

Throughout Italy, the kidnap industry, as it's called,

has now reached huge proportions.

The first big money...

...the kidnappings of the '70s and '80s.

Over 750 in Italy.

Wealthy people, kidnapped, chained,

thrown in the mountains.

Men, women, children.

The only thing that mattered: "Could your family pay?"

Cold, rain, months in a hole.

Many never returned.

The case that announces the 'Ndrangheta

to the rest of the world is from July 1973.

John Paul Getty III,

grandson of one of the richest men on the planet.

They kidnap him. The family doesn't want to pay.

Then, a package arrives. Inside is an ear.

His ear.

They pay.

Some people are born into the 'Ndrangheta.

They don't choose it. It chooses them.

I met one, a former member.

He had everything: power, money,

a name that opened doors and closed mouths.

Then, one day, he left it all.

He cooperated with justice.

He helped put powerful men behind bars.

In the 'Ndrangheta, the word "forgiveness" does not exist.

What he did is a death sentence.

I don't know his real name.

In any case, he chose a new one.

In Italian, it means "reborn."

Blood...

...is more important than anything else.

Everything else stems from that.

Territorial control.

Social consensus.

Without that, you can't build a strong economy.

From an 'Ndrangheta perspective, that is.

It's something passed down from generation to generation.

It's...

Can I tell you a story?

A guy...

whose father died.

What was the mother supposed to do?

She started a hot affair with someone else.

Do you know how the story ended?

...because she dishonoured the honourability.

As far as I know,

the lover was then fed to the animals.

This. And this is the strength of the 'Ndrangheta,

the ruthlessness, the firmness.

When the family calls,

you don't ask questions; you just act.

Here are the rules.

Very few people turn their backs on the 'Ndrangheta

and stay alive to tell the tale. Almost no one.

Luigi did it.

He is also a former member of the 'Ndrangheta

from a powerful family.

He hasn't returned to Calabria in 20 years,

a place he once controlled.

He became a key witness.

Powerful men fell thanks to him.

Now, he watches his back every day,

and he will for the rest of his life.

Being born into an 'Ndrangheta family

in 1971 was really tough.

After a year and eight months, they killed my uncle.

So a feud broke out.

The wars were called "feuds."

War until the death of the last male

of one of the two families.

I had a violent childhood.

Frankly...

And for a woman,

leaving the 'Ndrangheta is unthinkable.

Maria did it anyway.

She spoke to the prosecutors.

She named names.

She had members of her own family arrested.

The 'Ndrangheta makes no distinctions.

They would rather kill her children than let her live in peace.

When did I realise my family wasn't normal?

I realised it when I suddenly saw that...

suddenly, there was luxury:

a new car, a shop.

But then, people started looking at you funny.

My brother had done the kidnapping,

so there was money.

I mean, I was even ashamed to go to school

because everyone...

everyone was looking at me, judging me.

I was 12 years old.

It was my birthday, and my father had recently passed away.

That morning at school,

I didn't know what was happening to me.

No one had explained it to me.

My teacher called me aside.

She was the one who told me what a period was.

I came home with the pain,

the fever, and the... and the tears.

I got into bed, and I closed my eyes.

Then, I heard the door open.

It was him, my uncle...

He stripped me.

When I saw, I started screaming.

He grabbed me and began his disgusting, perverted violence.

I tried to kick him as hard as I could.

I didn't want to get up from that bed. I felt dirty.

My mother knew.

I only forgave her

when I became a mother myself,

and that is when I made a promise.

I will protect my daughter, even...

Maria's story gets under your skin...

...and at a certain point, the anger comes.

All this talk of family, loyalty, honour,

according to the 'Ndrangheta,

it's all that matters

until it's no longer convenient.

Calabria,

famous for being the toe of the Italian boot,

a beautiful place,

but poor, really poor.

Kids drop out of school early,

and when there's no future,

crime is the only way out.

And the 'Ndrangheta controls the territory,

controls everything.

The poor stay poor. The bosses get rich.

It's always been that way.

Nicola Gratteri grew up watching all of this as a child,

but instead of following the herd,

he decided to take another path.

When I went to school,

I had to travel nine kilometres,

and I used to hitchhike.

It's not like we had money for the bus.

In my class, there were the children of the 'Ndranghetisti...

...who were arrogant...

uh... show-offs...

violent.

That's where I realised...

These young people are easily manipulated.

The mafia show off their wealth.

They show off with gold watches, luxury cars,

maybe rented, uh...

with lots of cash in hand to say,

"Come with us. We are the winning model.

Come with us, and you'll become strong,

rich like us, powerful like us."

It's a pipe dream.

The mafias are devious.

The mafias, uh...

say A, think B, and do C.

Nicola Gratteri, an Italian prosecutor,

grew up in Southern Italy,

and after witnessing the brutal methods of the 'Ndrangheta,

he decided to fight it.

He has had hundreds of mafiosi arrested.

The 'Ndrangheta wants him dead.

That's why he has lived under personal police protection

for over 30 years.

There is a huge bounty on his head for anyone who can get to him,

but he stands firm and without fear.

Living like a coward, living like a wimp is useless.

And then, if death comes, we look at it,

we embrace it, and, uh... so be it.

They train them from a young age

with tests of strength.

Twelve years old, thirteen years old,

I would go into the neighbourhoods where I could,

so I would call the young guy who represented the neighbourhood

and who was surrounded by some friends, right?

So I would call him and say, "Who's in charge here?"

He'd say, "Ah, this guy. I'm in charge."

I would beat him up, and then, I'd tell the others -

the other kids, his friends -

"If he was in charge before,

now I'm in charge here."

...without even knowing it.

The murders start early.

First, they train on farm animals.

Then, they are unleashed on human beings.

As a child, they took me to the slaughterhouse

to shoot cows in the forehead,

to see the blood, to get used to it.

Then, your father, your uncles,

your older cousins would show up with pistols, rifles,

and you thought they were toys.

Your tiny little hands,

as you try to load the bullets into the magazine,

they hurt; you feel it.

But you don't say it hurts because you can't.

You have to be worthy of the family.

Then, you eventually get to actually shooting an AK47.

Stabbing with a knife, twisting the blade,

because twisting the blade increases the bleeding.

...whether with a knife, a club, or a gun.

In the '80s and '90s of the last century,

over 400 million euros were accumulated.

The 'Ndrangheta reinvents itself,

and this time, there is no turning back.

Family ties, strategic marriages between clans,

direct alliances with South American cartels.

In just a few years,

it becomes the main importer of cocaine into Europe,

a dominant force in the global heroin trade.

I'm going to meet Antonio Nicaso,

one of the world's leading experts on the 'Ndrangheta.

Born in Calabria, he didn't just study it.

He went deep. He fought it.

In those years,

they understand the importance of cocaine

and start sending brokers to Colombia,

brokers who don't go to buy cocaine,

but go to live in Colombia.

They marry Colombians...

...and settle down in Colombia.

This meant being able to get better prices,

or, sometimes, even buying on consignment,

so not paying upfront.

They trusted the 'Ndrangheta so much

that they would even say,

"Take the drugs and pay me in 30, 40 days,"

something they never did with other criminal organisations.

Today, the 'Ndrangheta is the main entry point

for cocaine into Europe.

Its power lies in the white powder,

no competition, and a unique entrepreneurial mindset.

But the 'Ndrangheta doesn't stop at cocaine.

It was clever enough to understand that,

alongside drug trafficking,

a clean facade was also needed.

...all legal on paper.

On the other side...

...money laundering on an industrial scale.

Money to hide, move, transform,

to inject into the legal economy

before anyone notices.

And they knew EXACTLY how to do it.

Some people have houses... made of money.

It's always... a strange thing,

but the house is made of concrete and money.

They even wall the money in.

It makes you laugh, I know.

You don't believe me right now,

but you'd have to tear it down to see.

They vacuum seal the money

and bury it underground.

But we're talking millions, millions,

millions of euros in specific drums.

They put weapons, drugs, and also money in there.

The second step is to find

clean people with no criminal record

who open up different businesses to launder the money.

Sometimes, they... they buy the businesses directly from...

from struggling business owners.

In Calabria, buying land is used a lot,

but that's also a form of control, you know?

In the north and in European countries, though,

they buy lots of apartments, pizzerias, everything.

They invest... in gold...

invest... Now, they... they even have hackers. Go figure.

They invest in crypto, USDT.

Everywhere.

Once you put it in, and it becomes, uh... real money,

you can no longer trace where the...

the legal ends and the legal begins.

The 'Ndrangheta's superpower?

The code of silence,

and the extraordinary ability to leave no trace.

Drugs, money, legal businesses, no trace.

No one sees them coming.

The devil's greatest trick was

convincing the world he didn't exist.

Same thing for the 'Ndrangheta.

The 'Ndrangheta embraces all organisations, all of them.

That's why it can be the Albanian mafia,

it can be the Romani,

it can be Cosa Nostra, the Camorra.

They embrace everyone.

So it's become a big mother, in a way,

for all criminal organisations.

In slang, the 'Ndrangheta is called the "mama."

Wherever you go,

you will always find a son of Mama 'Ndrangheta,

who is ready to embrace you.

But, however far you go, you will always need to make sure

you pay your dues to the central organisation,

the motherload, where it all began.

And the motherload is here, San Luca.

It looks like nothing, just another poor southern town.

Wrong. Completely wrong.

The code was born here, and from here,

it spread all over the world like the branches of a tree.

Think about how far those branches reach.

There, you preserve the formal rules of the 'Ndrangheta.

You conform perfectly to those rules

because it has that model of 'Ndrangheta culture.

A sort of chamber of commerce

where you have to register

and where someone has to authorise you

because otherwise,

without the authorisation of San Luca,

it remain the bastard.

They are independent,

but they all answer to the same brand.

Think about it.

It's like a franchise, same rules, same name all over the world.

San Luca is the heart.

Plati is the brain,

and if you want to get in, you go through the underground.

There is no other door.

I can't enter Plati alone,

not with a camera.

They spot you before you even get close,

but I'm going anyway.

Marshal Palumbo.

Dozens of fugitives arrested here. It's not luck.

That's why they call him "The Legend."

Plati, for me, is the only place

where the silence...

...actually fits the definition.

The code of silence rules in Plati.

The code of silence.

Do you know the three wise monkeys?

See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.

That's what it is, and why?

Because people are afraid.

It's always been that simple.

Historically, fugitives stay local.

It's a show of strength...

...to prove that they are...

...stronger than us.

Bunkers everywhere in Calabria,

but Plati is different.

Under that town lies a real city...

...used to hide fugitives for months, sometimes years.

Kilometres of tunnels.

Some you walk through, others you crawl,

others you slide on your stomach.

They are not simple escape routes.

They are an expression of their power:

underground power.

But when they emerge,

brutal, ruthless, unstoppable.

This is the strength of the 'Ndrangheta, and in fact...

When the men go underground, and they do,

someone has to run things.

In the 'Ndrangheta,

that someone is a woman.

Unlike most criminal organisations,

women here are not on the margins.

They are INSIDE the code.

They enforce it, protect it, pass it down.

In the 'Ndrangheta, take away the women,

and there is no more 'Ndrangheta.

The code, the rules, the way of thinking,

it all goes through them.

If you get arrested, it's normal, right?

But if you make a mistake, right?

Still, it's important to keep the code, uh...

...the family's honour.

If I have to talk, better to die.

That's for sure. Even the mother would prefer it.

Will be for life... with the thought of getting revenge.

They dress in black.

They always wear mourning

until they have killed

or gotten revenge.

♪ W MURRAY AND A BRITTON: Dead Man's Shoes ♪

The men go to prison. The women take command.

♪ Hitman

♪ Walkin' in my shoes... ♪

Maria Serraino looked like any grandmother,

but they called her Mother Heroin.

In the '70s and '80s,

she transformed the family's illegal tobacco trade in Milan

into the largest heroin and cocaine business in the region.

She ran the trade.

Not her son, Not her husband.

Her.

But while some women like Maria Serraino reach the top,

others are used as pawns on a chessboard,

tools to secure important family alliances

within the 'Ndrangheta.

Marriages are often used to reconcile,

to end wars, but they are also used

to create strategic alliances, to give more strength,

more power to their control over the territory.

I really didn't even want to get married,

but my brother decided for me.

I was supposed to be Ciccio Marando's fiancee.

Ciccio - full name Francesco Marando -

big drug-trafficking operation,

very dangerous family.

Maria believes she can build a life,

a real life far from all this.

Instead, she goes straight into hell.

My mother-in-law made me a prisoner.

She realised that I would never submit to her.

They started to turn me into their slave.

Only one dress, one meal a day.

Little water. Locked up at night,

in the cold, alone like an animal.

Then, the baby girl is born.

For the first time in a long time,

Maria smiles.

I was... I was happy she was a girl,

and that she wasn't a boy.

She wouldn't follow in her father's footsteps.

But I immediately thought:

"She's a girl, and..."

But all women in Calabria take a back seat to just one woman.

Her image is everywhere,

the Madonna of Polsi,

Our Lady of the Mountain.

The most powerful symbol the 'Ndrangheta has ever had.

A central element in the history of the 'Ndrangheta

is the San Luca Summit...

...on the occasion of the Feast of the Madonna of the Mountain.

It's a symbol,

and she is also the mother of the 'Ndrangheta.

She is adored by the 'Ndrangheta members themselves

because they see protection in the Madonna.

And anyway...

uh... they hate Judas, for example,

who betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

Imagine thousands of pilgrims

gathered to honour the Madonna.

Among them, members of the 'Ndrangheta blended into the crowd,

making decisions, forming alliances,

or dispensing mafia justice.

At the end of the feast,

they'd find the bodies of people who didn't deserve,

according to 'Ndrangheta logic, to stay alive.

And this might have been the fate of Maria,

wife of Ciccio Marando,

at the hands of her criminal husband,

had she not attempted

her dramatic escape with her daughter.

He wanted to shoot me in the leg,

so I couldn't walk anymore.

(SOLEMN PIANO MUSIC

Then, he told me, "Let's see if you run away now."

At that point, he beat me to a pulp.

Nobody said a word.

She just stopped...

...some of us crying.

You hear things in this work,

but that you don't forget.

We are about to enter Villa Pelle.

It belongs to a boss,

one of those who really matter:

Antonio Pelle.

They call him 'Ntoni Gambazza.

And it is precisely in places like this

that initiations take place:

symbols, rituals,

and an oath that binds you to the 'Ndrangheta

for the rest of your life.

The blood ritual.

You prick your finger,

let a drop fall on a holy card,

Saint Michael the Archangel.

You burn it. You recite the oath.

You swear on the 'Ndrangheta.

Your family becomes the 'Ndrangheta,

and you're prepared to...

...anyone who puts the organisation at risk.

Once inside, you are family.

But what kind of family?

How does it work? Who is at the top?

Who is at the bottom?

For the rank of picciotto,

you prick your finger.

For the rank of camorrista...

...you make a sign of the cross here on your right thumb.

For the sgarrista, a cross on your left thumb.

You start from the bottom.

You do what you're told, then, you cross the line.

Few make it there.

Quintino, a handful of men in all of history.

And above all, one man:

the Capo crimine.

The bosses meet, they vote,

and that's how someone rules the world.

The Capo crimine oversees the distribution of business

and the administration of justice.

The basic unit is called 'Ndrina,

almost always a blood family.

Several 'Ndrine form a locale

which manages the criminal network of the territory.

There's a local boss. Then, there's the crimini,

who is the minister of war, who organises the criminal actions.

And... And then, there's the accountant,

who is the one who keeps the cash.

Several locali form the mandamento.

Calabria is divided into three mandamenti.

From here, power extends all over the world,

and only one man is chosen to guard the code:

the Capo crimine.

And how do you rise? How do you get to the top?

Sure, some are born into it.

But respect. Respect is earned.

And do you know how you earn it?

The more prison time you do,

the more your prestige increases.

I remember a scene of a father who scolded his son.

And the son answered the father,

"Prison doesn't destroy you. It..."

♪ Hitman...

"Prison makes you stronger."

♪ Walkin' in my shoes... ♪

But these are the foot soldiers.

At the other end of the scale...

...criminal bosses meet in very specific places

where they can shake hands

with the heads of so-called legitimate businesses,

as well as high-ranking figures

in banking and local administration.

The 'Ndrangheta made a leap in quality

from the moment it entered Freemasonry.

That's where the strength is.

And it's hard to fight it,

even at the Masonic level...

...because you're touching the high levels.

Freemasonry is present all over Italy,

all over the world, you know?

We're talking about... about powerful individuals.

Since the late '70s,

high-level members of the 'Ndrangheta

have infiltrated Masonic lodges.

All in the same room, a calculated strategy.

Hands shaking, paths clearing.

That's how they became

the most powerful criminal organisation in the world.

Everything in the 'Ndrangheta seems,

from the outside, like a well-oiled machine.

Until August 2007.

That's the moment something breaks

deep inside San Luca,

triggering a blood feud

that will shake the 'Ndrangheta to its roots

and send shockwaves around the world.

Duisburg, a quiet, ordinary town

like so many others in Germany.

August 15th, 2007,

a night that changes everything.

Six men found dead on the sidewalk

in front of an Italian restaurant,

each with a shot to the head just to be sure.

All from the 'Ndrangheta.

Germany wakes up in shock. No one here had ever heard that name.

Lieutenant Edoardo Zanni

of the Cacciatori di Calabria is

one of those who knows the real story.

He has spent his career in San Luca.

He knows every detail, every name, every consequence.

That's why I'm going to him.

The San Luca feud is a decades-long conflict

that started in the '90s.

It culminated in the Duisburg massacre in 2007.

It all started with a simple prank,

a childish stunt by some kids

throwing eggs at a bar

and at a local boss's car.

From there, things escalated, uh... leading to, uh...

beatings of the kids

who pulled the carnival prank,

and, eventually, to murders.

Every action taken by 'Ndrangheta members is aimed

at maintaining their reputation because their power

in a given territory depends on that reputation.

So losing reputation means losing power,

which can even lead to murder.

In fact, the value an 'Ndrangheta member places

on life and death is incredibly low.

More than 20 people died,

and do you know for what?

For a carnival prank gone wrong.

Yes, just a prank.

I'm strongly convinced that, today,

there are murders that go unseen,

which are indeed murders,

so they pass as tragedies, accidents, or...

When people disappear,

it's because they don't...

they don't even want to give the family a body

to be able to bring a flower to.

It's a way to still, uh... show...

...show a certain strength on the territory and...

At the end of 2024, near San Luca,

the charred body of Antonio Strangio was found.

He belonged to an important family in the 'Ndrangheta hierarchy.

Now, some fear that a new feud could be triggered.

Maybe it's just the beginning of another war.

So how do you get out and stay alive to tell the tale?

You swore an oath. You burned the holy card.

You know there is no turning back.

From the 'Ndrangheta, there is only one way out,

and it is final.

I understood that there could be something else,

that I wanted something else,

so my heart went from dark to red.

I have two kids.

I decided to change my life for them, for my wife,

to give them a different future,

to make them part of this society, this nation.

And how did the 'Ndrangheta respond?

If you bring serious dishonour,

the one who has to kill you to prove the family's power

has to be your closest relative.

So it has to be...

The family decided that the front man to kill me...

He fires three shots,

and luckily, on the third shot, his gun jams.

I grab the gun and shoot.

It's a very traumatic day for me.

When people ask me, "But weren't you afraid of dying?"

I was more afraid of killing my father than of dying.

To this day, when I think about it, I thank God.

So many times when I thought about raising my hand,

because I was furious, raising my hand

while he was crawling away

after firing all those shots to kill him,

and I stopped myself.

If he had been a stranger, I would have killed him ten times.

But I don't blame my father. He grew up worse than me.

He obeyed a doctrine.

My father was a prisoner, just like I was,

just like so many are, of this thing, of...

Since he cooperated with justice...

...Luigi has helped dismantle dozens of 'Ndrangheta affiliates,

things that would have remained buried forever.

His former brothers call him a traitor.

I have another word for him,

and I say it with full respect.

But the 'Ndrangheta never forgets.

There was a day when I couldn't take it anymore,

a day when I was truly afraid for my daughter, for myself.

And that day, I made my decision.

I told the judge about this thing,

and they immediately took action.

I got home, threw a few things in a big suitcase.

I'll never forget it.

I grabbed only the bare essentials.

They don't tell you where they're taking you.

They put me in an armoured vehicle.

My daughter and I left.

That's how...

Maria left with a suitcase and her daughter.

It was all she had.

There are so many women like me,

but they are prisoners of their husbands,

their children, afraid to rebel,

to run away, because I made it.

Today, I am the real Maria.

And what price is prosecutor Nicola Gratteri paying?

They tried to kidnap my son

while I was in the hospital

to stage an accident to kill my other son.

In the 'Ndrangheta locales abroad, even in America, where...

...to the point that, today, I can't even walk five metres.

Wherever I go, there are preventive checks.

Then, they search everyone who gets close to me.

So, uh... it's...

it's been a life like this for... for many years now.

And especially to kids, when I go to schools to speak,

I say, "Look...

...despite this,

I am one of the freest people in Italy.

Because freedom isn't going to the beach to swim.

It's not going to the movies.

Freedom is looking people in the eye

and saying exactly...

Here I am, at the end of this journey.

I have seen a beautiful land crossed by a dark code.

I met those who fight,

and those who manage to leave.

One question remains.

Can the silence be broken?

Perhaps yes.

A single voice can change a destiny.

♪ Free

♪ Pure imagination

♪ The walls of your life are painted

♪ With immoveable white sails

♪ Starin' at the white sails As the wind blows

♪ Dreamin' of horizons Of a place you'll never know

♪ Yesterday, we whirled

♪ And now, you keep tab of my old songs...

♪ Talking to the sea

♪ Talkin' to the sea ♪

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