Matteo Salvini’s electoral victory in the southern region of Calabria during the Italian general election this year was supported by a former politician who law enforcement authorities have claimed has close ties to the ‘Ndrangheta, the criminal organisation that controls most of the cocaine trade in Europe.

The far-right interior minister and head of the League party, who has emerged as a de facto prime minister, won his senate seat in the region with the backing of a former mayor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Scopelliti, with whom Salvini had a political alliance and who was arrested weeks after the March poll for forging documents while he was mayor.

In a previous mafia case in which he was not charged, Scopelliti was described in court documents as being “sponsored” by one of the ruling clans of the ‘Ndrangheta. Prosecutors also alleged in records seen by the Guardian that the most powerful criminal clans in the area played a “crucial role” in Scopelliti’s political career.

There is no suggestions that Salvini has any direct ties to the criminal organisation. But the Guardian has examined Salvini’s ties to individuals who are alleged to have close links to the ‘Ndrangheta, because of the interior minister’s role overseeing law enforcement and domestic security.

The claims come as Salvini attempted on Tuesday to demonstrate his anti-Mafia priorities by diving into a swimming pool at a Tuscan villa that was confiscated from a mobster.

The minister then swam a lap in the pool. The villa was seized from a mafia boss in 2007 after 24 years of legal procedures and turned into a resort.

Salvini has also engaged in a public dispute with one of Italy’s most outspoken anti-mafia campaigners, the writer Roberto Saviano, who is a Guardian contributor.

Last week Salvini threatened to remove Saviano’s police protection, even though Saviano has been under threat from the Camorra since he published Gomorrah, his breakthrough book about the mafia in Naples, in 2006.

Giovanni Tizian, a Calabrian journalist for L’Espresso who has lived under police protection since 2011 after being threatened by the ‘Ndrangheta, told the Guardian that Salvini’s electoral gains in Calabria – from having virtually no support five years ago to winning office – “relied on the support of men with a troubled past and a dark political history”.



“The priority was getting as many votes as he could. In this sense, Scopelliti represented a fortune for Salvini. It didn’t matter that Scopelliti was [previously] elected with the support of the clans, as investigations have revealed. Scopelliti was popular and could count on thousands of supporters,” Tizian said.

A spokeswoman for Salvini declined to comment.

Scopelliti became an important person in Salvini’s political orbit last December, when – before his arrest a few months later – the former mayor declared at a political rally that he would support Salvini and that “side by side” he would build a future with the far-right leader. Even though he had not then been charged with any crimes, Scopelliti was already known for alleged ties to organised crime.

Scopelliti’s house was raided by prosecutors in 2016 following an investigation that revealed the existence of a so-called cupola, a secret association of ‘Ndrangheta godfathers and politicians who made decisions in Calabria and helped influence people’s votes. According to investigators in the carabinieri, the military police who led the operation, Scopelliti’s own involvement in politics had been the result of “the decisions of the mafia’s business interests”.



One month after Scopelliti announced his support, Salvini – a native of Milan – took advantage of a feature of Italy’s new electoral law and decided to run for parliament in Calabria, despite his northern roots. It was seen at the time as part of his strategy to try to make gains in southern Italy, despite the League’s long track record as a northern secessionist party.

It was a bold move. In 2013, the year Salvini took control of the League, his party won just four votes in Rosarno, the town that is also a major stronghold of the ‘Ndrangheta.

He had reason to be cautious. In 2017, 12 local governments in the region of Calabria were dissolved because of mafia infiltration. Shortly after he decided to run in Calabria, Salvini agreed an official alliance with Scopelliti’s political party, the Movimento Nazionale per la Sovranità.

Against the odds, given his party’s history, Salvini was elected in Calabria in the 4 March election. He now officially serves as a senator representing Calabria, having won about 49,797 votes there. The Five Star Movement, the populist party, won the region overall as part of its sweep of southern Italy.

On 17 March, Salvini attended a rally in Rosarno to celebrate the victory. According to La Repubblica, the rally in Rosarno was attended by key members of the ‘Ndrangheta’s clans, including members of the Bellocco clan, one of the most powerful mafia crime families in Calabria.

One month later, Scopelliti was arrested and convicted for forging official documents while he was mayor. He is now serving a prison sentence of nearly five years. Scopelliti has denied having any connections to organised crime.

There is no evidence that Salvini and Scopelliti had a close personal relationship. The League’s relationship with Scopelliti was reportedly managed by the party’s regional coordinator in Calabria, Domenico Furgiuele, whose father-in-law, a hotel developer, was previously convicted of mafia-related crimes.

Furgiuele has also faced police scrutiny. In 2012, records show, he asked his father-in-law to reserve rooms in his hotel for two men who, it later emerged, had committed a mafia-related murder in Vibo Valentia. He was never charged with wrongdoing but was questioned by police, according to La Repubblica.

“I had no idea they killed a man. I’m a victim of a misunderstanding. A man asked me a favour, if I had space in the hotel for two of his friends. I didn’t know them,” he told La Repubblica.

When asked about links between the League and the ‘Ndrangheta, Salvini told reporters that he was only interested in the campaigns against the mafia.

Since he became interior minister, Salvini has said fighting the mafia is one of his priorities. But he has also made two policy proposals that could benefit individuals involved in organised crime: eliminating a limit on all-cash transactions, which helps to curb money laundering and tax evasion, and a broad amnesty of individuals who are being investigated for tax fraud – under a certain limit – as part of a plan for “fiscal peace”. The Five Star movement quashed the plan.