Known as "The Honored Society," Fibbia, or Calabrian Mafia, la 'Ndrangheta is based in southern Italy. Instead of the pyramid structure of bosses used by other criminal organizations, la 'Ndrangheta uses family structures based on blood relationships and inter-marriages. Each group is named after their village or after the family leader.
'Ndrangheta began as a defense mechanism for impoverished rural peasants against their aristocratic landlords. Members of these Calabrian crime groups emigrated to Canada and the United States and were discovered running a "black hand" intimidation scheme in Pennsylvania mining towns in 1906. In the 1970's it branched into the drug trade and is now international.
Police investigations of la 'Ndrangheta are very difficult to conduct, since it is composed of family members. It is estimated that there are one hundred fifty five 'Ndrangheta families, with about six thousand members.
The Siderno Group is a leading Calabrian family, in both Italy and North America. The leader is alleged as Comiso "the Quail" Commisso, with many other Commisso family members deeply involved, some of them in Canada, United States, Germany and Australia.
All members go through a ritual ceremony, similar to that of La Cosa Nostra. It mainly consists of "a series of obscure questions and answers spoken rapidly in the Calabrian dialect, full of flowery phrases of loyalty and implied violence" [Global Mafia, p63].
The Commissos and other 'Ndrangheta clans are supposedly involved in narcotics, organized kidnapping, extortion, theft, counterfeiting and construction work involving bribes and pay-offs.
Members of this Calabrian based crime group often live without outward signs of wealth or power. They have evolved into money laundering, political influence, the arms trade, illegal disposal of radioactive and hazardous waste, and are buying into legitimate businesses. According to informant Calogero Marceno, they have also split into two levels: the "maggiore" (senior level) and the "minore" (junior level). This places a barrier between low-level common crimes and higher-level political and white-collar crimes.
Reportedly the group has shipped European heroin to the U.S., where it was traded for cocaine to be re-sold in Europe. There is also a large-scale marijuana growing operation in Australia. Due to the gross lack of law enforcement crackdowns, la 'Ndrangheta continues to grow and has reportedly struck alliances with other Mafia groups, including the Colombian drug cartels.