If they're most powerful in Europe. Then in what ways are they most powerful? And if so, why haven't then they taken out the smaller groups or at least made them to pay up a percentage?
Though these kinds of debates are largely futile, as it's not like tennis rankings or whatever, controlling the lion's share of the European cocaine trade (in addition to their other interests) would make the 'Ndrangheta one of the top OC groups in Europe, if not the top. But one could argue the 'Ndrangheta (and the Italians) in general have more of a presence in Western Europe while the Russians (and other Eurasian OC groups) have more of a presence in Eastern Europe. And the big dogs don't necessarily have to push everyone else aside. For instance, I read an article a while back about how the 'Ndrangheta even allows other ethnic groups to control certain rackets (prostitution, counterfeit goods, etc) within it's own territory, without much interference on it's part, because it's involved in and making plenty of money from it's own interests.
This is all true. Essentially 'Ndrangheta seem to operate like CEOs when working internationally: they're happy to have smaller groups actually running and profiting from operations but expect overall control and to have money kicked up.
I really don't think its possible to estimate quite how enormous 'Ndrangheta is, but I think you have to see it in terms of top 5 organised crime groups in the world. I think its a little unfair to compare 'Ndrangheta with the "Russian mafia", as the Russians are made of a number of independent crime groups, not one cental body. You can maybe compare the power of Italian OC groups with Russian OC groups, but to get an accurate view of the power of individual groups, you can only really compare 'Ndrangheta with Solntsevskaya Bratva. Elsewhere in Europe Comorra/Cosa Nostra/Albanians/Turks don't really come close.
Don't forget 'Ndrangheta's behind-the-scenes control of legit organisations is almost incalculable and has infiltrated locations where they don't maintain large-scale criminal organisations. For example, a number of major property purchases on Oxford St (London's version to Fifth Avenue) has been linked to 'Ndrangheta. That led to hysterics about horses heads in London beds or whatever mafia-stereotype crap people dream up, but in reality they're obviously just going to rent the buildings out to completely legit companies at a huge profit, like any other property tycoon.
Basically 'Ndrangheta is a completely entrepreneurial organisation, probably just as legit as it is criminal, and I think it's crazy just to measure their power just based on the amount of cocaine moved through porta gioia tauro. That said, cocaine trafficking alone is estimated to bring more money into Italy annually than Fiat - Italy's biggest legit company.
