LOCRI, Italy (AP) – First Italy fought its mafia mobsters by confiscating their wealth. Now judges are taking away something more precious: their sons.
Riccardo Cordi’, a shy 18-year-old scion of one of Italy’s most notorious mob families, is a pioneer in a new strategy to fight the mafia by exiling crime clan sons from their homes and families. Riccardo is the first of about 20 sons sent into a kind of rehab away from the mob by juvenile courts in the southern region of Calabria, home to the dangerous ‘ndrangheta syndicate.
By age 16, Riccardo seemed destined to go the way of his father, a reputed boss gunned down in a turf war, and three elder brothers in prison on mafia-related convictions. Their photos line the wall of the fortress-like Cordi’ home in Calabria, seen in an exclusive visit by The Associated Press, in a testimony to the rule of blood in the powerful ‘ndrangheta.
But when Riccardo was charged with attempted theft and damage to a police car, judge Roberto Di Bella followed up his acquittal with a startling order: The ‘ndrangheta family prince would be sent away to Sicily until he turned 18.
Di Bella had sent Riccardo’s three brothers to prison and wanted to spare the last son a similar fate. He cited legal provisions that allowed courts to remove minors from families incapable of properly raising them.