Italy prosecutor: Ndrangheta is top crime group in West

Italy's anti-mafia prosecutor Giuseppe Governale said Tuesday the 'Ndrangheta mafia organisation was "the most important criminal organisation in the Western world" at a press conference in Rome as preliminary hearings in the biggest ever trial against the group were due to resume.

The hearings at the Rebibbia bunker room, which are expected to last until the end of October, are part of a trial which will rule on the indictment of 452 suspects from the 'Ndrangheta mafia organisation.

They're facing various charges with crimes such as involvement with mafia-type organizations, international drug trafficking, usury, extortion and money laundering.

Governale said the group was "underestimated" and particularly dangerous because of its ability to proliferate across nations and infiltrate them.

"They are like water. Unlike Cosa Nostra and Camorra, which go abroad (just) to make quick money, 'Ndrangheta does go there (abroad) yes to make money, but it also exploits the local communities," he said.

The investigations, which could lead to the opening of the second biggest mafia trial ever, after the famous 'maxi trial' against Sicilian Cosa Nostra in 1986 in Palermo, were led by prominent anti-mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri.

The focus of the investigations were several families of the mafia rooted in Vibo Valentia, the Calabria region in southern Italy.

Among them the Mancuso family, one of the most powerful of the 'Ndrangheta clans.

The Calabrian 'Ndrangheta has increasingly eclipsed the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in power and wealth, infiltrating all sectors of Italian economic and political life.