Mafia’s Web podcast: Mother ‘fed to the pigs’ in brutal mafia murder

A major criminal trial of the world’s biggest mafia clan has uncovered gruesome details of how they allegedly used pigs to dispose of bodies. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

The depravity of the ‘Ndrangheta clan is being laid bare during a mega trial of 355 mafia dons played out in a newly-constructed courtroom in the mafia-stronghold of Calabria, Italy.

The brief of evidence, which runs to more than 20,000 pages, details the tactics of the ‘Ndrangheta – which still has strong ties to the mafia in Australia – including feeding women to pigs.

The case has been turned on the evidence of Emanuele Mancuso, a mafia supergrass who ratted on his family, including revealing new detail about the disappearance of single mother Maria Chindamo.

Maria Chindamo, a 42-year-old business woman, vanished on May 6, 2016, and was allegedly fed to pigs after refusing to hand over her land to the mafia. Picture: Supplied

The 43-year-old woman went missing in 2016, but new details only emerged earlier this year.

It was not the first time the mafia had allegedly used pigs to dispose of bodies, with a wire-tapped conversation in 2012 revealing a mafia boss saying he enjoyed watching a man being fed alive to pigs.

“It was such a pleasure to hear him scream,” the mafia boss said according to the taped conversation.

Listen to the latest podcast episode of Mafia’s Web below:

He allegedly told his prison cellmate that the single mother of three was “fed to the pigs” who had been starved for days because she refused to sell her land.

He revealed the mafia believed they would get away with it because she was in the middle of a bitter divorce.

“He made her disappear, knowing full well that the family of the husband would be held responsible,” Mancuso allegedly told another informant.

The killing of Ms Chindamo reinforces the mafia’s determination to control the Calabrian region of Italy, and shows their sometimes strange priorities.

The ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian branch of the mafia demand the right to control land in that region, yet do little to improve the impoverished south of Italy, despite their rivers of cash.

And they avoid personal shows of wealth, according to mafia expert Dr Anna Sergi, of the University of Essex, who grew up in Calabria.

Emanuele Mancuso is a mafia supergrass who ratted on his family.

“The money definitely does not stay in Calabria – it’s still the poorest regions of Italy. It has enormous problems in terms of managing its own finances,” Dr Sergi told the Mafia’s Web podcast.

“The portfolios of money laundering is really diversified, some of it goes to Australia to Canada to Germany to Switzerland, to Spain. You buy restaurants, you buy resorts, you buy hotels.”

Dr Sergi said that curiously, the mafia was not solely motivated by the enjoyment of money, but rather the power that comes with amassing wealth.

A former call centre converted into a court room for the trial of 350 alleged members of Calabria's 'Ndrangheta mafia group and their associates. Picture: Gianluca Chinnea

A view shows one of multiple televisions screens set up in a special courtroom. Picture: Gianluca Chinnea

“Are they ever going to enjoy it? The generations go by and there never seems to be a generation that enjoys it,” she said.

“This has to do with the lies that people tell themselves, you tell yourself the story that you’re doing it for your children because your family deserves better.

“But then things kick in an you cannot end this spiral of criminality.”

Originally published as Mafia’s Web podcast: Mother ‘fed to the pigs’ in brutal mafia murder