Mala del Brenta

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The Mala del Brenta was a criminal organisation based in Veneto, Italy.

The criminal organisation's structure was believed to be based upon some elements of the Cosa Nostra and Camorra model.^[1] Anyway, it was not considered a real Mafia organisation, because it missed two basic characteristics: the control over the territory and the connections with the politic. It has been referred to by several different names including: Mafia del Brenta, Malavita del Brenta, Mala or Mafia del Piovese.

It has started in the early 1980s as a small gang of criminals which controlled racketeering along the Riviera del Brenta between Padua and Venice, the "boss", was known as Felice "Angel Face" Maniero.^[2]

Their criminal stranglehold escalated as they became increasingly organised with the assistance of a major Sicilian mafia boss who was stationed in the Veneto region at that time.^[3].

The organization had some high-level political connections outside Italy (Croatia and Yugoslavia, Malta, Hungary and possibly Austria).^[4] . Maniero was a personal friend of the son of the former Croatian president Franjo Tuđman and it was involved in the supply of guns to Croatia, in the early 1990s^[5].

Its members were exclusively native from the Veneto region but with a number of associated operating in the region from Cosa Nostra, Camorra and it is believed from the Ndrangheta as well.^[6] .

The organisation was completely destroyed in the late 1990s, due to revelations of the former 'boss' Maniero, who had turned informant of the police.

Recently some of the former members have tried to start with a new organisation, the so-called Nuova Mafia del Brenta. They were responsible also for a foiled attempt at killing the former founding boss Maniero.^[7]. Also this organization was probably destroyed in a recent police actions ^[8].