The massive international raids on the Italian 'Ndrangheta organization have again put the spotlight on money laundering in Germany. Has organized crime found a haven in this country?

It's the largest trial of organised crime to be held in Italy since that of the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra at the end of the 1980s. The Calabrian mafia 'Ndrangheta, one of the most powerful in the world, went on trial in the beginning of 2021. Some 70 convictions were handed down in November, with 355 defendants still to be judged. Our correspondent Louise Malnoy met the protagonists in this so-called "maxi-trial" in which many southern Italians are placing their hopes.

The Yakuza have long been one of the biggest criminal organisations in the world. At the height of their power in the 1960s, the Japanese Yakuza had more than 180,000 members. This Japanese mafia was rich, much feared, and virtually untouchable. But now their numbers, money and power have dwindled. There are only 23,000 Yakuzas left today, and they are older and poorer.

The 'agricultural mafia' taking over Brazil's Amazon rainforest

The 'ndrangheta organized crime network took over from the Cosa Nostra as the wealthiest and most powerful Italian Mafia in the world. Another 355 people will be tried and face sentencing in coming years.

Maria Licciardi, once one of Italy's most-wanted criminals, was stopped by officers as she prepared to fly to Spain from Rome's Ciampino airport. Police believe she effectively was running an influential Camorra clan.

Italian police say they have seized 1.3 tonnes of cocaine in the past week from the southern port of Gioia Tauro, a major narcotics entry-point controlled by the 'Ndrangheta mafia. In three operations using sophisticated scanners, police discovered the uncut drugs worth 260 million euros ($315 million) hidden within containers loaded with coffee and frozen meat from Brazil, and exotic fruit from Ecuador.

Earlier this month, a mega-trial got underway in Italy with more than 300 defendants and 900 witnesses, the biggest mafia trial of its kind in decades. The main crime family in question has allegiances with gangs in South America and Albania. We speak to Federico Varese, a professor of criminology and the author of a number of works on the Russian mafia, Soviet criminal history and the globalisation of mafia groups. He shares his perspective on the trial in his homeland and on mafia groups around the world.

The new Mexican government is battling the mafia's massive theft of gasoline. But the consequences are a lack of fuel, growing unrest among the population — and a deadly blaze that resulted from desperate siphoning.