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Documentary, The Mafia's Secret Bunkers BBC Documentary, Ndrangheta
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00:00there's a new front line in the war against organized crime in southern
00:15italy's rugged highlands a previously unknown criminal group meets just about
00:23here some of the top bosses were standing having their secret meeting called the
00:28andrangheta its bosses are Europe's biggest cocaine traffickers the police are fighting
00:38back forcing mafiosi underground into bizarre and sophisticated bunkers
00:46holy moly from here they run their criminal empires protected by a wall of silence
01:02they dug up the whole street to bury their bunkers nobody breathed a word
01:10this is the story of a little-known mafia whose secret inner workings are only now coming to light
01:21this is Calabria a beautiful and blighted region at the very tip of Italy's boot
01:43as a historian I've spent years studying Italian organized crime now I've come to this mountainous
01:52peninsula a stone's throw from the island of Sicily to investigate Italy's most mysterious
01:58and powerful mafia the andrangheta the cacciatori the hunters are an elite law enforcement unit they've
02:15agreed to take me deep into andrangheta territory in realtà la locrida si possiamo considerarlo un territorio
02:25nemico perché rappresentato per anni roccaforte dell'andrangheta il consenso era per la quasi
02:35totalità rivolto alla criminalità organizzata lieutenant angelo zizi and his men often have to
02:45operate under the cover of darkness caratteristica del nostro lavoro appunto quello in una in
02:55filtrazione occulta osservazione e desfiltrazione sempre in maniera occulta after two and a
03:05half hours we reach a small village high up in the mountains it's four in the morning
03:12with the mist on the mountains here and the silence there's something really spooky about this place
03:32now abandoned this house was once used as a base by Calabrian criminals
03:37tenente che cos'è questo punto d'accesso è un complicato meccanismo di carrucole azionato attraverso
03:52un sistema elettrico fondamentalmente una parte di muro che scorre sul pavimento col bunker chiuso all'esterno
04:02è praticamente impossibile individuare l'accesso geniale
04:08there's something fiendishly clever about this mechanism that kind of james bond villain fashion
04:14the concealed entrance leads to a narrow passage
04:28pretty tight in here
04:32pretty tight in here
04:35this secret hideout was discovered almost by chance
04:39when the team were pursuing a group of andrangheta gangsters
04:43muro piantati dei chiodi quindi state attenti mantenetevi al centro
04:49when zizi and his team first entered there was no sign of the men they were after
04:54quando abbiamo scoperto quella parte quella botola quella apertura sotto il pavimento eravamo convinti di trovare lì dentro il latitante
05:04in realtà non abbiamo trovato nessuno per quale motivo perché quest'altra apertura all'interno del muro era chiusa e occultata molto molto bene
05:12cioè un sistema di scatole cinesi pratichiamo
05:16esattamente
05:19what they stumbled upon was not just one concealed bunker
05:23it was a whole warren underground passageways false walls and secret rooms
05:30dall'interno del bunker siamo passati all'interno di una vera e propria rete di cunicoli
05:36che porta in direzioni differenti una all'interno delle fogne
05:40in un'altra direzione attraverso un tunnel di circa 30 metri arriviamo in due abitazioni differenti
05:47e nella quarta direzione andiamo all'interno di una di un'altra abitazione
05:53the tunnels fan out under the village linking hideouts and escape routes
05:59so the tunnel system was a kind of map of the andrangheta network in this village
06:08it's a claustrophobic maze completely disorientating
06:12this is a completely different house
06:27it's a completely different house
06:30another secret entrance
06:32under the stairs
06:33and we're into a completely new house
06:38absolutely amazing
06:41by the time i got out
06:45dawn had broken
06:47we came in somewhere over there
06:51when the cacciatori got into the first part of this system
06:57there was six people in there
06:59the cacciatori had surrounded the whole area
07:02and there was a chase through this bunker system with its different exits
07:06each cacciatore having to follow a different andranghetista as he made his escape
07:11three of the andranghetisti got away
07:13and having been through that system of tunnels i can really see why
07:21building this subterranean labyrinth was a major enterprise
07:25somebody must have noticed all the work going on
07:28but not a soul told the authorities
07:31for more than a century the men of the andrangheta have been the undisputed authority in these mountain villages
07:38to understand the nature of their dominance you need to understand the geography of calabria
07:44and that means taking to the air
07:46this is very exciting for two reasons one because i've never been in a helicopter before
07:59and two because now we're going to see some of the wildest parts of calabria from the air
08:05we took off from the city of regio calabria one of the mafia power bases on the coast
08:17but the heart of andrangheta territory is aspramonte the harsh mountain
08:22aspramonte is inaccessible the law has never had much of a foothold here
08:43the andrangheta is a secret society of criminals and for a long time these remote mountain settlements have been its fortresses
08:58in the 1970s and 80s the andrangheta took to kidnapping for ransom
09:04using these remote mountains to hide the captives often for years
09:13each of these villages is controlled by a different clan
09:21if you know where to look it's not hard to see who's in charge
09:27he's about to fly over a villa that an andrangheta boss had built for himself
09:32and he wanted him to look exactly like tony montana's villa in scarface the movie
09:39i suppose all gangsters are gangster wannabes at heart
09:50today the main source of the andrangheta's wealth and power lies 20 minutes flight northwest
09:56at the port of joya tower opened in the 1990s joya taro is now the biggest container port in the mediterranean
10:09it should have been good news for this underdeveloped region
10:13is
10:30it's passed to over 3 million to over 3 million of containers on these
10:33It costs 4 million euros only for pizza.
10:39But here in Grangita, the port of Joya Tala is the headleth like the golden eggs.
10:50Extorting a protection payment on every container is just the start.
10:55The main illegal business here is smuggling.
10:59Ordinary commercial routes are used as Trojan horses.
11:05From bananas to frozen prawns, from iron to hazelnuts.
11:12Any cargo shipped from South America to Europe and the port of Joya Tala can be used as cover for Andrangheta's cocaine.
11:22Andrangheta can be used as a cover for Andrangheta's cocaine.
11:28Thousands of containers pass through the port every day.
11:32It's impossible to check and scan more than a handful of them.
11:35The best chance of catching a cocaine shipment is through intelligence on the ground.
11:40But even there, the criminals are often one step ahead.
11:46The Andrangheta plant their own men in the port.
11:49Just like we watch them, they watch us.
11:52The sheer scale of this place is awe-inspiring.
11:59The ships are like tower blocks.
12:02The piles of containers go on for kilometres.
12:05And if you think that a big load of cocaine is about the size of a wardrobe,
12:10makes it very clear that the old cliché about looking for a needle in a haystack just doesn't come close.
12:19It's estimated that no more than 20% of the cocaine coming through the port is intercepted by the authorities.
12:27But even that amounts to an impressive haul.
12:30All'interno di questa cassaforte abbiamo parte della cocaina sottoposta a sequestro il 6 ottobre 2011,
12:39costituita da una partita di ben 520 kg di cocaina, purissima, direttamente proveniente dal Sud America.
12:47Era stata ritirata all'interno di un container e il soggetto arrestato era stato colto in flagranza di reato
12:54mentre tentava di trasportare all'esterno dell'area portuale questa partita di cocaina.
12:59Questa è circa un chilo di cocaina.
13:01Ma questo è quanto vale?
13:03Se lo vendiamo così puro, sono circa 120.000 euro.
13:07Se lo vendiamo tagliato tre o quattro volte, quindi moltiplichiamo 100.000 euro per due, tre o quattro volte.
13:14100.000 euro per questo, per questo.
13:18Guarda, questo è un'attività pieno di cose.
13:23La partita complessiva ha un valore di circa 135 milioni di euro se fosse giunto al mercato finale.
13:30Quindi noi abbiamo tolto dal mercato finale 135 milioni di euro di introiti all'andrangheta.
13:36And that's not all.
13:40Come potete vedere in questa stanza non abbiamo più la disponibilità di armadi blindati per...
13:46Scusami, sento un odore strano.
13:48L'odore acre degli acidi utilizzati per la produzione della cocaina.
13:533 tonne di pure cocaina.
13:553 tonne di cocaina hanno stato scegliato qui in ultimi due anni.
14:01E, ovviamente, questo è solo un piccolo di un po' di totale di cocaina...
14:08... che sta scegliando il porto di Giotardo.
14:13Questo è davvero straordinario.
14:15La mafia di Calabria, l'andrangheta, è oggi il più grande syndicato di cocaina in Europa.
14:23Il negozio è globale, ma alcuni dei profitti endano vicino a casa.
14:30Nel porto è la città di Rosano,
14:33casa di una di un'andrangheta più riuscita,
14:37il pesce clan.
14:40Pesce sono una cosca che ormai esiste operativa e padrona del territorio da almeno 60 anni.
14:52Carabinieri's special agent, Giuseppe Lumia,
14:55knows more about the Pesce clan than anyone.
14:58Pesce hanno il controllo della quasi totalità delle attività della vita globale di Rosano.
15:05Da decenni vivono questo territorio spremendo tutte le risorse.
15:09Inoltre il trafficking di cocaina,
15:13il pesce clan è diventato ricco da extorsione e fraude.
15:18In questa piccola città ,
15:20i membri di clan hanno piaciuto la buona vita.
15:23Non più che il suo chief, Ciccio Pesce.
15:27Quella è la casa di Ciccio Pesce, la villa di Ciccio Pesce,
15:35costruita dal padre proprio lì,
15:37bella, ricca, grande, sfarzosa,
15:39in mezzo a tanta povertà perché tutti potessero vederla
15:42e perché loro dall'alto di quella collinetta
15:45potessero dominare l'intera Rosano.
15:48È una forte fortezza con mura perimetrali alte più di tre metri,
15:54completamente circondata da telecamere.
15:58È impossibile avvicinarsi lì senza essere visti.
16:03Ciccio Pesce.
16:05La casa occupi una posizione
16:07come un castello di baron.
16:10A 30 anni,
16:12Ciccio Pesce
16:13è stato il ragazzo più conosciuto di un clan Andrangheta.
16:16Il risultato di potenza
16:18è stato visto da un ragazzo
16:20che è diventato uno dei piccoli Calabrian mafiosi
16:23per diventare un testo.
16:25Per ragazzo di sicurezza,
16:27non possiamo riconoscere il suo identità .
16:29Siamo chiamati Tony.
16:33What kind of man is Ciccio Pesce?
16:37I've known him since he was a child, Ciccio Pesce.
16:42When he was 14 or 15,
16:44on New Year's Eve,
16:45he went round town with his friends
16:47with some Kalashnikovs.
16:49He sprayed the streets
16:51and the shop shutters with bullets.
16:53There was no particular reason to do so.
16:56He just wanted to make a mess
16:58because power was growing in his hands.
17:00Extreme violence was the basis of Ciccio Pesce's power.
17:08People respected him out of fear.
17:10They were scared of rebelling
17:12because he'd become the absolute ruler of our area.
17:15As one of the poorest regions in Europe,
17:19Calabria receives huge subsidies from the European Union
17:23for public construction works and farming.
17:25Mobsters like Ciccio Pesce have stolen much of that money.
17:29Tony helped Pesce make millions through a colossal scam involving oranges.
17:35The oranges had to be delivered to a plant,
17:41but we wouldn't take anything there.
17:43We would take the paperwork the night before, however,
17:47and in the morning it would be signed by corrupt officials
17:51saying the oranges had been delivered.
17:53After 90 days we would receive the funds for the oranges
17:57from the European Union.
17:59And how much did you make in an average year?
18:06I was small fry, but in a good year I could make three,
18:11four hundred thousand euros from oranges.
18:14And a boss like Ciccio Pesce, how much would he make?
18:18Someone like Ciccio Pesce, who owned the farms, the plants,
18:23the transport companies, everything.
18:25He'd make out of the oranges scam alone
18:28some five to six million euros a year.
18:32The clan would invest the money in drugs and weapons
18:36and they would double it, even treble it.
18:40The Andrangheta is highly territorial.
18:43When they fall foul of the law,
18:45bosses like Ciccio Pesce very rarely take flight.
18:49Instead, they go to ground, close to home.
18:55The man of honour, the leader, never leaves his own turf.
19:03For them a bunker is an investment
19:05if someone needs to lay low for a while,
19:07hoping the police will lose interest in them.
19:14Many of these bunkers were made of old shipping containers,
19:17sunk into the soil of the orange groves
19:20and kitted out with everything a boss would need to lie low.
19:29Of course, a bunker is only safe if its location is kept secret.
19:39In Calabria, where the Andrangheta is more feared than the law,
19:43the blanket of silence known as Omerta
19:46is as thick as anywhere in Italy.
19:53So it's not surprising that not many people have broken
19:56the regime of Omerta.
20:00I'm on the way now to find out what happens when you do.
20:03I've been given an address some ten miles south of Rosano.
20:23It looks like my arrival is being closely monitored.
20:26This fortified compound is where construction entrepreneur
20:40Gaetano Saffiotti lives and works.
20:45It's the only place Saffiotti would agree to meet.
20:47I'm very, very happy to meet you.
20:50Please.
20:52So this is the office?
20:55I'm from zero.
20:56I have 32 years of work.
20:59So I've already been here.
21:01Saffiotti's company grew from nothing
21:03into a multi-million pound business
21:06until, in 2002, the profits crashed.
21:09This is the property.
21:11The company was always in positive
21:14since 1981, when it was born.
21:16Then the year after the arrest, it's collapsed.
21:19For years, like most businesses in the area,
21:22Saffiotti had paid regular extortion money
21:24to the Andrangheta.
21:26But as he became more successful,
21:28they wanted more and more control.
21:30When he tried to buy a plot of land,
21:33the mobsters made their move.
21:35And then what happened?
21:38One night, they set fire to my bulldozer
21:40to tell me, you've done something you shouldn't have.
21:43Saffiotti turned to the state for help.
21:46But he soon learned who's really in charge in Calabria.
21:51I went to report who'd done it.
21:53I was told, perhaps it's better you keep that to yourself.
21:56We know how these things end up.
21:58And my heart sank.
22:00And so there is this facade of a state
22:02and there is this real state.
22:05Paradoxically, the real state is the Andrangheta.
22:09The campaign of intimidation escalated.
22:16In the middle of the day,
22:18they showed up and threatened my staff,
22:20including my brother.
22:22They gave him a tank of petrol and told him,
22:24pour this petrol over the vehicle
22:26and set it alight.
22:27Here is the fire.
22:29And there is fire.
22:31Saffiotti had been pushed to the edge.
22:34He decided to fight back.
22:39This is a particular story.
22:41This is the moment in which he takes the money.
22:44For months, Saffiotti risked his life
22:47to capture his tormentors on film
22:49as they came for their payoff.
22:50On this occasion, several thousand pounds.
22:52You see, these are the money I put here.
22:54I'll go a little behind.
22:56I take the money in the cassette.
22:58These are 10 million.
23:00You see?
23:02I'll show you the telecamera,
23:04while they are distracted.
23:06You see?
23:08Now, he takes the 10 million.
23:10And how about that other?
23:12You see?
23:13In an unprecedented act,
23:23Saffiotti took this evidence to a public prosecutor.
23:26On the night of January the 25th, 2002,
23:3045 Andrangheta members were arrested.
23:33But this was not the end of Saffiotti's problems.
23:37When someone talks about one's life changing overnight,
23:43it may sound exaggerated.
23:45But in this case,
23:47my world was really turned upside down overnight.
23:50My 65 employees must have learnt about the arrests
23:54before they came out in the papers,
23:56because in the morning,
23:58only five showed up for work.
24:01On the same day, all of our orders dried up.
24:04The banks closed my accounts,
24:10even the active ones,
24:12not just the overdrafts.
24:14Cancelling my overdrafts was bad enough,
24:16but I couldn't even withdraw my own money.
24:18It was completely absurd.
24:20I was ostracised by everyone,
24:22as if I'd become a terrible criminal.
24:28Many of Saffiotti's friends shunned him.
24:31In Calabria, even law-abiding citizens
24:34wouldn't risk defying the Andrangheta
24:36by being seen with a man like him.
24:39This, instead, is a message from friends, right?
24:44Yes.
24:46It says,
24:48How far before, on your body,
24:50you will get 45 coats of pelletons,
24:52so you will get them,
24:54not from the palms, but from the ground.
24:56This is the message.
24:5845 bullets.
25:00One for each of the men that Saffiotti had had arrested.
25:07And then the police turned up.
25:09They said, we are here for you,
25:11because from now on, you are under protection.
25:15That was it.
25:17The beginning.
25:18The situation in Calabria can seem incomprehensible at first glance.
25:36But to really understand what's going on there,
25:39we need to take a step back,
25:41or rather take a trip across the Straits,
25:44to Sicily.
25:45This beautiful island has long been home to the notorious Cosa Nostra.
25:56For the last 30 years,
25:58the Italian state has been struggling to contain
26:01the most powerful criminal organisation in modern history.
26:16Coming to Palomo today,
26:18you have to make an effort to remember that 25 years ago,
26:21this was a city in the grip of terror.
26:24The bloodiest mafia war in history was going on.
26:28Hundreds of people were being killed,
26:31bodies were being left burning in the street,
26:34or taken out to the sea and dumped.
26:36Cosa Nostra was killing magistrates,
26:39policemen, journalists, politicians.
26:40That violence reached its savage climax with the 1992 bombing assassinations
26:48of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
26:54Cosa Nostra had declared war on the state,
26:58and seemed to be winning.
26:59It felt like the country was on its knees.
27:03If they were able to blow up a motorway,
27:06and kill magistrates under the highest level of protection,
27:09and also kill our police colleagues escorting them,
27:12then I felt this was an extremely powerful and terrifying organisation,
27:17which would stop at nothing.
27:19It's been a long, hard road for the state to win a war.
27:22a key success came in 2006, when, after 43 years on the run,
27:24Cosa Nostra's boss of bosses was finally arrested.
27:27The uncatchable had been caught.
27:29In that moment, the people felt a burst of courage,
27:33and wanted to show it by coming to our Palermo headquarters
27:35to express solidarity with us.
27:36and the belief that this battle could be won.
27:41If organised crime is to be defeated,
27:46ordinary people need to be empowered to resist.
27:49They have to believe that police are defeated.
27:52They have to believe that police are defeated.
27:55And they have to believe that police are defeated.
27:58In that moment, the people felt a burst of courage,
28:01and wanted to show it by coming to our Palermo headquarters
28:03to express solidarity with us.
28:04They have to believe that police and judges are not in the pay of the mobsters
28:09and that those who stand up to the Mafia will be protected.
28:14Now, in Sicily, that is beginning to happen.
28:18We promote a sort of rebellion, a cultural revolution against...
28:22Eduardo Zafuto is one of the founders of a grassroots anti-Mafia group.
28:27Addio Pizzo, or Farewell Extortion,
28:30encourages ordinary Sicilians to come out and defy the Mafia.
28:34Cosa Nostra works like a shadow state, using extortion as its tax.
28:44Sometimes here the Mafia asks just 10, 15 euros per month, that's nominal payment.
28:50It's important for the Mafia that even the fish shop as well as the vegetable shop accept to pay protection.
28:56So how many people do you think actually pay protection money in this market, for example?
29:03Eighty percent of...
29:05Eighty percent?
29:06Eighty percent, yes.
29:06Eighty percent?
29:07Yes.
29:08Just round the corner from the market is a shop selling traditional Sicilian caps.
29:13When we started our campaign, we started to distribute these stickers to the shopkeepers that are members of our campaign.
29:23The stickers say, I pay who does not pay.
29:26So in the sense, of course, I support those who say no to the Mafia.
29:31Have you ever had any problems with extorsions?
29:33Of course, yes.
29:35In my past, the last one, the last one was when we opened a shop in the center.
29:44L'indomani dell'inaugurazione, abbiamo trovato l'attacca nelle serrature.
29:51Invece che telefonarti e dire, dammi i soldi, ti mettono l'attacca e poi ti chiamano e tu sei già ammorbidito secondo il messaggio mafioso.
30:02E dunque, come ha reagito a questo?
30:05Ora metto adesso il tuo pizzo e questa è la risposta che devo dare.
30:08It works like a sort of beware to the dog sign, you know, so it says, as soon as you will dare to ask Pizzo here, you will be immediately reported to the police.
30:19And the consumers, they know for sure, just seeing this sticker, that in this shop, not a single cent goes to the Mafia.
30:29E funziona?
30:30Funziona.
30:32Funziona.
30:32Dunque, non ha paura?
30:34Assolutamente no.
30:35Mafioso è vigliaco, va dove trova persone deboli, dove trova persone isolate.
30:42Quando vedete un gruppo di persone che adesso sono Adio Pizzo, ci pensa due volte perché magari aggrediscono, oppure di un'altra.
30:51800 businesses have joined Adio Pizzo's anti-extortion campaign.
30:57In the huge task of eradicating the Mafia's scourge, this is a small start, but the potential is revolutionary.
31:05Back in Calabria, the anti-Mafia fight is a generation behind.
31:14In fact, as the state focused on Sicily, the Andrangheta grew unchecked.
31:19While Cosa Nostra was committed to its strategy of terror, the Andrangheta made a completely different choice.
31:27They were not interested in a war against the state.
31:33They bought the state, piece by piece.
31:36They seeped into it.
31:38They didn't need to fight it.
31:39They didn't need to fight it.
31:43Andrangheta remained in the shadows.
31:45And in the shadows, it grew in strength, power, organisation, and above all, in wealth.
31:53The Calabrian Mafia thrived on neglect, unknown to the world.
32:02Even most Italians struggled to pronounce its name.
32:06Until one night in 2007.
32:09On the 15th of August, a frantic call was received in a small village in Calabria.
32:20A distraught caller asked for the Mama.
32:26Codename for a notorious Andrangheta boss.
32:29This dramatic call was not made from calamities.
32:59It came from Calabria, not even from Italy.
33:01It came from a thousand miles away.
33:06From the German city of Duisburg.
33:16They'd likely never seen anything like this in Germany.
33:21At the scene, there were two cars.
33:24Bodies splayed out.
33:26The acrid smell of cordite that we are so used to here.
33:29Blood running on the street.
33:32This is a German street.
33:35Clean, orderly.
33:37It's not the woods of Aspromonte.
33:41Six men were murdered that night.
33:43In the pocket of one of the victims, baffled German police found a mysterious charred image.
33:52Looking inside the pockets of those boys, they found an image of St. Michael the Archangel, with the burnt hole in the centre.
33:59That's what's used in the initiation ceremony for young Andrangheta members.
34:05That was the business card of the Andrangheta.
34:07The dead men were Calabrian gangsters, investing their criminal profits in German hotels and restaurants.
34:17But their murders were the result of a bloody feud back in Calabria.
34:21For the world, it was like a slap in the face.
34:27What on earth is happening?
34:29Where do these people come from?
34:31Who are they?
34:32What is the Andrangheta?
34:35The killings stung the Italian state into action.
34:38Seasoned anti-mafia investigators were recruited to lead a crackdown.
34:48The Duisburg incident revealed how dangerous Andrangheta was.
34:53And that made the state realise even more that it needed to act strongly and decisively.
34:58And so it did.
35:02Within months, police rounded up the foot soldiers of the feuding clans.
35:08But a key boss remained at large.
35:12The ruthless, violent man nicknamed the Mama.
35:21When listening to the phone tabs, we heard reference to the Mama.
35:25We knew it was their codename for Antonio Pele.
35:28That's what he was known as.
35:32But the hunt for Antonio Pele was to demonstrate just what investigators were up against.
35:38In Calabria, fugitive bosses usually hide within their own communities, protected by a wall of silence.
35:48It was more than a year before a heavily armed squad swooped on a deserted warehouse,
35:53just outside of Pele's home town.
36:02Nothing suggested there might be a bunker or anything like that.
36:05Until we noticed something about part of the floor that made us suspicious.
36:08Suddenly, we see this platform coming up from the floor.
36:21And then we hear the fugitive's voice from below.
36:37Antonio Pele.
36:42Antonio Pele.
36:43Below the hydraulic lift, police found a fully furnished living space.
37:13The bunker was perfectly organized like a flat.
37:19It was one of the most sophisticated ever found in Calabria.
37:27He even had a greenhouse to grow cannabis, so his hobby too was taken care of.
37:40The capture of Antonio Pele was a major coup.
37:43But when, two years later, he mysteriously managed to escape from custody, it became clear just how fragile any victory against the Andrangheta can be.
38:03Scouring the mountainsides for fugitive bosses is important.
38:12But to really attack the Andrangheta, investigators needed to penetrate the deepest secrets of its structure.
38:23In 2009, they made a historic breakthrough.
38:28It came in a secluded valley at Palsi, home to one of the oldest shrines in Italy.
38:38The Madonna of Palsi, an object of religious veneration for centuries, a whole host of miracles have been attributed to this statue.
38:57Every year, a smaller wooden copy gets carried around the sanctuary here in procession, while women bellow ancient hymns and the crowd shouts, Viva Maria!
39:09This is one of the holiest places in southern Italy, but it's also a place with a very sinister history.
39:16Thousands of believers come to the shrine every summer.
39:27It was long suspected that Mafiosi used the pilgrimage as cover.
39:31But for what?
39:32Then, in 2009, undercover agents spotted a very different kind of pilgrim.
39:43Just about here, on the 2nd of September 2009, that some of the top bosses in the Andrangheta were standing, in a circle, as Andrangheta tradition dictates, having their secret meeting.
39:57Little did they know that the carabinieri were filming them.
40:02The men spoke in a quasi-religious code.
40:06The scene we witnessed in Palsi harks back to ancient rituals and mysticism.
40:23But really, it has little to do with religion, and more to do with crime.
40:36Investigators had filmed a scene that surpassed Hollywood fiction, the highest body of the Andrangheta, in full session.
40:46This previously unknown ruling council had a name. Il crimine, the crime.
40:59The Andrangheta was believed to be a family-based organisation, with lots of families. Some more, some less organised, clashing with each other.
41:05Making alliances.
41:18Instead, a new structure emerged, hierarchical and pyramid-like, similar to the Sicilian Mafia, with a provincial executive deciding the criminal strategy, not only here in Reggio Calabria, but also in Italy, Europe and around the world.
41:39What months of investigation revealed was a global mafia federation, with an annual turnover estimated at 44 billion euros.
41:50If accurate, that figure would be the equivalent of 3% of Italy's entire economic output.
42:02The State Offensive also revealed the extraordinary lengths that Andrangheta bosses will go to protect their power.
42:10To evade capture and continue to operate, they've built hundreds of bunkers.
42:20Many are ingeniously concealed, beneath water tanks, behind radiators, wine racks, or apparently solid walls.
42:35The elite unit known as the cacciatori, or hunters, were keen to show me one of their particular favourites.
42:42Now let's go to the most interesting part of the whole room, which is this small kitchen, where, as you would say, a bunker is hidden.
42:59A bunker is hidden inside this oven.
43:02In the inside, we already have a distinctive sign that has never been opened.
43:07This has never cooked a single margarita in its life.
43:12And that was one of the clues that told the cacciatori that there was something fishy about this particular oven.
43:21A door inside the oven slides back on tracks, revealing a 30-metre corridor dug deep into the hillside behind the house.
43:39A door inside the roof is hidden inside in the house.
43:46I'd like it to be.
43:51Holy moly.
43:53This was once a rather nice bedroom suite, complete with mirrors, stereo, tv, bedroom furniture, heater.
44:06And this was clearly a perfectly decent living space once upon a time.
44:15So we've come through the pizza oven, down the tunnel, through the bedroom, into the bathroom.
44:25And there's another secret entrance here leading who knows where.
44:29Here there are tunnels leading to bunkers, leading to more tunnels, leading to more bunkers.
44:36There's a kind of madness at work here.
44:57The Andrangheta has also dug itself deep into Calabrian society.
45:01And to do that, it draws on more than just violence and intimidation.
45:07Bribery, corruption and political patronage have won some key players over to the Andrangheta's side.
45:18Unfortunately, the characteristic of the Andrangheta is that it's not only a criminal power,
45:23it also penetrates all layers of social and professional life.
45:27It's the collusion with politics, institutions and the business world.
45:35That's what strengthens the organisation.
45:40Power to buy people, power to offer someone a job, power to buy an official, a magistrate, a police officer.
45:48This is what money does.
45:49Calabria's institutions have been profoundly infiltrated.
45:57In 2012, the city council of Reggio Calabria was suspended by Italy's national government.
46:04The reason? Links to organised crime.
46:07The rise of the Pesce clan and its young boss, Chicho, is a typical tale of mafia power.
46:17Since we were kids, we've been taught that every man has his price.
46:21Chicho Pesce was like the mayor.
46:23By 2010, investigators had amassed enough evidence to put Chicho Pesce on trial and raided his hilltop mansion.
46:35Here too, they found a bunker.
46:38But of the boss himself, hardly any trace.
46:42It was evidence that the gangsters hold the real power in the region.
46:46If we don't catch a fugitive, it is because the state has failed.
46:55And people can't quite comprehend why some fugitives can be on the run for so long.
47:02Catching Chicho Pesce became an absolute priority.
47:06A special Carabinieri team began looking for a lead and for a bunker.
47:11They concentrated on what they knew Chicho Pesce could not live without.
47:19Football and beautiful women.
47:21It was clearly difficult for him to bring a football pitch inside a bunker.
47:25But a woman would definitely have been easier.
47:29And so we concentrated on one woman in particular.
47:31This girl was different from all the others.
47:41Because she had a lifestyle that didn't match her means.
47:49So the boyfriend must have been rich.
47:51But we didn't see one.
47:53She took too much care of herself to be a single woman.
47:57We studied her habits.
47:58We began to follow her day and night.
48:01For months, surveillance was trained on Chicho Pesce's suspected mistress.
48:09Until one day, there was a breakthrough.
48:13A car turned up outside the woman's house.
48:19We recognised the driver.
48:21He was the armourer of the Pesce clan.
48:23A man in contact with Chicho Pesce.
48:24The investigators thought this man could be carrying messages between Pesce and his mistress.
48:34They tracked him to an isolated scrapyard, a couple of miles outside Rosano.
48:45Surveillance was difficult in this area because there was no cover.
48:48It was impossible to go right up there and get a close look without being seen.
48:55This was a big problem for us.
48:59Faced with such difficulties on the ground,
49:02those hunting the Andrangheta bosses can now call on help from above.
49:07These observation windows are absolutely amazing.
49:19You can stick your head literally out of the fuselage of the aircraft and look straight down.
49:25The Italian government has invested millions in state-of-the-art spy planes like this one.
49:31We have two types of cameras, one long-range and one short-range.
49:39This is what we have in real life.
49:43And this is where we can enter practically in the house of people.
49:48You can see images very defined.
49:50And considerate that we are traveling at about 250 km per hour.
49:55This allows us to be completely invisible.
49:57And in a very concretely controlled territory of the Andrangheta,
50:02like this one, this aircraft is an indispensable instrument for our investigations.
50:08It seems to be in this place.
50:10As you can see, you can see people.
50:13You can see if there are cars, if the house is inhabited or disabited.
50:19You can see the details of the comignols, if there is a containment that works.
50:24We are at something like 2,500 feet at the moment.
50:28And when they do these extraordinary zooms,
50:31they tell me that even from several kilometers away,
50:35they can identify the number plate on a car.
50:38We are at a car that isn't in the middle of the sea.
50:39We are at a car that is in the middle of the sea.
50:41Also because unlike a helicopter, the aircraft does not feel on the ground.
50:47And even looking at the sky, it does not make you think that an aircraft can film you.
50:57Investigators were trawling through all conceivable evidence about the scrapyard,
51:03suspected of being Pesce's lair.
51:05And so we began to get hold of satellite images of the previous two-year period.
51:12We were looking to identify structural changes made to the area.
51:18And then we got lucky.
51:23The presence of a bulldozer, wooden boards to spread mortar, heaps of cement mix, sand, the cement mixer.
51:32The photos showed that six months earlier, builders had been at work,
51:37but there was no evidence of any new buildings, at least not above ground.
52:02When we arrived here, a part of my men were brought to this front.
52:08They had wrapped up the whole table to be sure that no one could go out.
52:13We had to beat this cancer.
52:16We beat it with a mass, right here.
52:19We had a big advantage, which was the surprise effect.
52:23In fact, as the carabinieri entered and searched every inch of the compound, secret cameras were trained on them.
52:32The owner of the compound finally appeared and reluctantly led Lumia and his men to a chicken coop.
52:38A few moments later, the trap door opens.
52:53He comes out, and he's white, like a corpse.
52:56He's lost 15 kilos.
52:58But we had recognised his voice when he'd shouted from the tomb in which he'd buried himself for months.
53:05We'd got him.
53:07The hunt for one of Italy's most dangerous men was over.
53:19The bunker had been Pesce's command centre for months.
53:49Through a dozen CCTV cameras, he watched his hunters closing in.
53:55That gave him just enough time to destroy any incriminating evidence.
54:00He's broken the cards, guys.
54:02Okay.
54:03Something's hidden.
54:06Something's hidden.
54:09Something's hidden.
54:10I'm not a fan of photography.
54:14Okay.
54:15Definitely.
54:16Perfectly.
54:18Perfectly.
54:19A 시작 of the first time that Pesce's had begun a 20 year prison sentence.
54:25Now the Italian state is putting 64 alleged members of his clan on trial.
54:35Ironically, they're being tried in a so-called bunker courtroom, bomb proof and several meters underground.
54:44This is one of the first major trials against the Andrangheta since its secret structure
54:57was revealed. The state is trying to show that it can fight the mafia and win. The stakes
55:04are high and not only for Italy.
55:10The Andrangheta clones its own criminal structure, multiplies it, and plants itself in new territories.
55:19In Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, there is no bit of territory, no social category
55:30which is immune from the possibility of contagion by the Andrangheta, by the mafia.
55:38There isn't any.
55:40But even the vast resources being poured into the fight against the Andrangheta can only
55:45begin to tackle the problem.
55:47We can arrest a hundred, two hundred, three hundred, but there will always be offspring
55:54ready to take the reins of the clan. Until Calabrian society stops shaking the hand of the mafioso,
56:03pretending not to know he is a mafioso. Until that happens, there's no chance of uprooting
56:09the weed.
56:10The battle in Calabria is still tough. It's still difficult. In Sicily, it took years of fighting
56:24to get results. Public opinion, the people must be reassured the state is strong, credible,
56:31and in charge. In Calabria, the road is still long.
56:39It's more than ten years since businessman Gaetano Safiotti took his brave stand and defied
56:45the Andrangheta. He is still a pariah and a prisoner in his own community.
56:51Here, we are in a kind of bunker. It's the price you have to pay. I pay this willingly
57:01for what I set out to achieve. But only when there are many of us, then I'll be able to
57:09call myself completely free. Free to walk around like everyone else, to go for a ride
57:14on my bike, to go to the beach, to watch the sea and swim. All these things that normal
57:20people do, but I'm prevented from doing. Sooner or later, it will happen. We need more time,
57:29but it will happen. I'm sure of it.
57:50What I've seen in Calabria are scenes from a war, a war that the rest of the world doesn't
57:59even know is going on. The tragedy of this land is that it took so long for the Italian
58:06state to begin a serious fight back. But having seen what I've seen on this journey, I have
58:13a hope, a belief that the tide of history has finally begun to turn.
58:32Paralympian Hannah Cockroft is amongst the famous faces in the chair for Celebrity Mastermind,
58:42next on BBC Two. And we have a roundup of today's play at The Crucible, with world snooker highlights
58:48at 11.20am.
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