Organized Crime in Italy - Mala Del Brenta or La Mafia Del Brenta

Mala Del Brenta or La Mafia Del Brenta

The Mala del Brenta, also known as the Mala del Piovese or Malavita del Brenta has been in operation throughout the Veneto region, across Northern Italy and into Croatia/Yugoslavia, Malta, Hungary and possibly Austria for the past twenty years.

According to Article 416-bis cp, introduced into Italy in 1982, the Malavita del Brenta falls into the category of mafia-type organization displaying all the characteristics described therein. This is in spite of its origins in the Northern Italian region of the Veneto, and its North Italian membership base. Having originally spawned from the Southern Italian organized crime syndicates, who had operated and infiltrated the Veneto region during the 70's, their vision of unifying Veneto banditry into a mafia-style syndicate was first realised under the leadership of Felice "Angel Face" Maniero throughout the 1980s and 90's.

These original Sicilian mafiosi, controlled much of the mafia activity in the Veneto, throughout the 60's and 70's, and included most notably: Salvatore "Totuccio" Contorno, Gaetano Fidanzati, Antonino Duca and Gaetano & Salvatore Badalamenti and Giuseppe Madonia. Veneti malavitosi, or underworld figures and bandits, learned from these Sicilians the necessary means for organizing themselves and taking the reins of control from the successive two decades.

Often referred to as the fifth and smallest of the Mafia organizations across Italy, it operates under the sanction of the Corleonesi clan from Sicily and has strong links with other Cosa Nostra families, the 'Ndrangheta, Camorra and Sacra Corona Unita.