The Basilischi (Italian: [baziˈliski]) was an organized crime group based in Basilicata, a region of southern Italy, officially formed in 1994 by Giovanni Luigi Cosentino in Potenza.[1] According to the national anti-Mafia prosecutor's office, the areas with Basilischi strongholds were those of Policoro, Montalbano Jonico, Pisticci, Scanzano Jonico, and the Val d'Agri and Vulture regions.[2][3][4]
On 22 April 1999, 84 orders for pre-trial custody were issued by the Potenza Prosecutor's Office. That started what became known as the maxi-trial, which jailed the main figures of the Basilischi and demonstrated their existence and strength in Basilicata.[5] The maxi-trial concluded in 2007, with a 700-page summation by the judges and the sentencing of 26 people for Mafia-type association to a total of 242 years in prison. In a ruling dated 30 October 2012, the Court of Appeal of Potenza confirmed the existence of the Basilischi.[6] The conviction of many high-profile members of the clan caused the group to become fractured and fall further under the influence of the more powerful Calabrian-based 'Ndrangheta.[5]
References
edit- ↑ DeLisa, Antonio (16 December 2012). "I Basilischi lucani – La quinta mafia d'Italia". Nuova Storia Visuale (in Italian). Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Storiografia.me.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ De Sena, Donato (5 February 2015). "Mafia, 'ndrangheta, camorra: la mappa dei clan". Giornalettismo (in Italian). Retrieved 20 October 2025.
- ↑ Marino, Vincenzo (14 June 2016). "Ascesa e caduta dei Basilischi, la mafia italiana che voleva imitare la 'ndrangheta". Vice Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 20 October 2025.
- ↑ "Mafia: la Basilicata è sempre assediata. Relazione Dia, fra Policoro e Scanzano operano gruppi emergenti" (in Italian). ANSA. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Corriere di Policoro.
- 1 2 Sergi, Anna (June 2012). "Fifth Column: Italy's Fifth Mafia, the Basilischi Re-Emerges". Jane's Intelligence Review. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via ResearchGate.
- ↑ "La mafia in Basilicata" (PDF). Le Sentinelle di Nonno Nino (in Italian). No. 6. Antonino Caponnetto Foundation. 11 June 2021. pp. 41–42. Retrieved 20 October 2025.