This article presents an exploratory study of the presence of the ‘Ndrangheta groups abroad. The study conducted an analysis over several national and international sources and it produced a map of the presence of ‘Ndrangheta groups in Europe and around the world. The attempt was to systematically collect data on the ‘Ndrangheta in order to provide a robust methodology with comparable results. The findings suggest the ‘Ndrangheta operates in several countries. Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and France are the most recurrent countries at European level. At worldwide level, Canada, Australia and Colombia seem to have a more intense presence of ‘Ndrangheta. The ‘Ndrangheta groups abroad deal with illegal activities (e.g. drug trafficking and money laundering) but also apparently legal activities (restaurants, pizzerias and hotels, food supply stores, food products, real estate) which could be also used for laundering money.
Keywords: ‘Ndrangheta, organized crime, Italian mafia, illegal markets, criminal markets, legitimate economy