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A criminal organization native to the Calabria region in Italy. The Picciotteria "as the N'Drangheta was called in its infancy," was first noted in an official government document on May 15,1888. In this historic piece as noted by Antonio Nicasso and Peter Edwards in their 1993 book entitled Deadly Silence, the author wrote complaining of the presence of Iatrinoli," or the sect that fears nothing," in the Reggio Calabria area. The early picciotti were usually the village tough guys who made their living as bandits and outlaws. Their appearance made them very easy to recognize for they carried themselves in a very distinctive fashion, exuding an arrogant confidence that comes from within. One of the earliest known piciotti to visit the Detroit region and conduct business regularly was Giuseppe Mussolini. Mussolini was a man of great influence, much of which came due to his relations to another Joe Mussolini also of Calabria. Mussolini became a reknowed underworld figure north of the border from his base of operations located in the rear of his restaurant/boarding house "160 York Street in Toronto." Joe Mussolini used Detroit as a landing point for immigrants and other black market items he brought into Canada from abroad. Mussolini remained an influential man in both Canada and Detroit until he was forced to return to Italy after narrowly escaping a murder conviction in 1911. Mussolini was later replaced at the helm of the N'Drangheta by a man who was just starting out in the underworld at the time of Mussolini's fall but would far succeed him in wealth, power and notoriety. As one of the last N'Drangheta leaders to hold any influence within the motor city underworld, Rocco Perri did so by supplying the local Sicilian mobs with good booze to sell in the states during prohibition. |
