The Mafia Under the Spotlight
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 July 2018
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It is thought to be the most powerful Mafia organisation in the world and yet few people have heard of it. The ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate has used the enormous wealth derived from its control of Cocaine smuggling to spread its tentacles far and wide around the world. The crime organisation began as bandits in the late 19th century in Calabria in southern Italy and is now thought to be operating in 50 countries. The ‘Ndrangheta shuns the limelight but earlier this year a brutal murder brought it unwelcome attention. Investigative reporter Jan Kuciak was shot dead while investigating possible links between the ‘Ndrangheta and the government in his native Slovakia. Suddenly the Mafia was in the news. For Assignment Andrew Hosken travels to Slovakia and Italy to investigate the killing and the ‘Ndrangheta’s global reach and power.
Producer: Albana Kasapi
(Image: Candles placed in front of a portrait of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova. Credit:AFP/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Andrew Hoskin and for assignment on the BBC World Service I'm in the main |
| 0:06.9 | square in the Slovak capital Bratislava where crowds have gathered to |
| 0:11.7 | protest about the murder of a young journalist. |
| 0:15.0 | In the square of national uprising in Central Bratislava, |
| 0:21.0 | there is a pavement shrine to the slaughtered reporter and his fiance. |
| 0:25.7 | Hundreds of candles placed before an image of Jan Kuziak and Martina Kustnirova and it's this image that haunts most slovacs today. The lives of two young people |
| 0:36.0 | so brutally snuffed out. The photo in the shrine shows Jan and Martina sitting on a sofa head to head both just 27. |
| 0:45.0 | Martina's face, framed by long dark hair, seems to shine with pride. |
| 0:50.0 | Jan, smirking, handsome, seems just as happy, although perhaps a little self-conscious. |
| 0:57.0 | I was in Slovakia and early spring in the weeks following the murders which brought |
| 1:05.6 | protesters out onto the streets. Here people sang the national anthem and |
| 1:10.3 | invented their anger on the climate of government corruption they blamed for the murders. |
| 1:17.0 | The couple had been shot at close range. |
| 1:20.0 | Jan in the chest, Martina in the head. A brutal cold-blooded execution. It shook |
| 1:27.8 | this small Central European country of just 5 million people. |
| 1:31.4 | My name is Carl Gallick and I'm a member of Parliament for the party of S. |
| 1:37.0 | Freedom and Solidarity. |
| 1:39.0 | Why has the murder of this journalist Kancankutsiak, made such an impact. |
| 1:44.0 | He was working on too many things which are connected to the government. |
| 1:49.0 | He probably really find out a lot of things here on the square. |
| 1:54.4 | People are asking how it is possible. |
| 1:56.5 | For example, mafia from Italy, how it can happen that they are somehow connected |
... |
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