On 15 August 2007, six young men with origins in the Italian region of Calabria were ambushed and murdered in the German steel town of Duisburg. This was northern Europe鈥檚 St Valentine鈥檚 Day massacre, the worst ever mafia bloodbath outside Italy and the United States. Suddenly, journalists across the globe were struggling with what the New York Times called an 鈥榰npronounceable name鈥�: 鈥榥drangheta (en-drang-get-ah.) In the 1990s, the 鈥榥drangheta placed itself in a leading position in the European wholesale cocaine market by dealing direct with South American producers. It is now thought to be the wealthiest and most powerful of Italy鈥檚 major criminal brotherhoods. But how, when, and why did it first emerge?
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