tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/mafia-6762/articlesMafia – The Conversation2024-02-06T16:19:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222412024-02-06T16:19:20Z2024-02-06T16:19:20ZTikTok’s mob wife aesthetic is far from the harsh reality of women in Italy’s world of organised crime<p>I am sitting in a cafe in downtown Naples listening to Signora Anna* give me an update on her life since her husband (a mafia boss) came out of prison. She has dedicated her life to him, keeping her family together while he was serving time in different prisons across Italy. </p>
<p>Signora Anna is someone who might be called a “mob wife”, but her world and look are galaxies away from the mob wife aesthetic that has become <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/a46493231/mob-wife-aesthetic-trend-explained/">popular on TikTok</a>. There is no fur coat, no big sunglasses, no bright or bold coloured t-shirts or cheetah-print tops, no black little dress with predominant cleavage, no Louis Vuitton handbag. </p>
<p>There is no excess or luxury on show here. There is no self-confidence either, no glamour, no tough cookie act or arrogance of superiority. Just the face of hardship, poverty and survival. </p>
<p>This new TikTok trend is inspired by The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sopranos-at-25-mafia-tale-of-murder-mayhem-and-family-created-a-golden-age-of-television-221233">Sopranos’ 25th anniversary</a> and the American TV series “Mob wives” (a kind of Big Brother-meets-The Godfather). It is a commercial product rather than a reflection of the gritty reality of Italian mafias and organised crime. As someone who spent time with real <a href="https://theconversation.com/married-to-the-mob-what-the-lives-of-two-camorra-women-tell-us-about-how-to-challenge-the-power-of-the-mafia-193924">mafiosos and mob wives</a>, I am confused by this trend. </p>
<p>There are so many contradictions with the representations and portrayals of mafia women today. We continue to use the male gaze and regard them as glamorous and irrelevant actors (“bimbos”) only interested in frivolous things. From my experience of real mob wives, this lies in direct contradiction of the very essence of mafias. </p>
<h2>The real mafia women dress code</h2>
<p>Mafias are by nature secret societies, although some are more visible than others. Their main aim is to control territory, make profit and launder their illegal gotten gains into the legitimate economy and access politicians. This makes ostentatious clothes a no-no, but cultural variations among mafias means that differences exist.</p>
<p>Italian mafia wives are different from American mafia wives because a structured Italo-American mafia developed during the 1930s within a different historical context of <a href="https://rb.gy/6il15c">capitalism and the American dream</a>. Although the Italo-American mafia is presented as a predominately male only mafia, the bosses of the five families in New York in the 1930s (Bonannos, Colombos, Gambinos, Genoveses and Luccheses) all had discreet wives by their side. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HiEB8leRS8Y?wmode=transparent&start=5" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>By the 1990s, the new generation of Italo-American bosses were fully integrated into civil society and the business world and their women had become a bit less discreet, shy and invisible. This reflected American society’s fascination with the mafia, celebrities and flashy culture. These are glamorous women who appear as trophies on the arms of their men without a care in the world, rather than normal women with daily concerns. </p>
<p>Film and TV had a large hand in this. Films like Scarface (1932) and The Godfather trilogy (1972 to 1990) created a mould of what a gangster ought to be. They were followed by a wave of films in the 90s like Goodfellas (1990), King of New York (1990), Donnie Brasco (1996) and others. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, Hollywood’s simplifications, misconceptions and stereotypes have been taken on by some of the criminals themselves. I have interviewed former mafiosi who have explained to me how they were inspired by films like The Godfather, how it dictated their dress code and mannerisms.</p>
<p>These films also inspired many different images of mafia women that confuse and overlap our understanding of them. They are at once objects and extensions of men. They can have it all and are empowered by dressing in a bold way. They are effortlessly unaware or ignorant of the violent criminality and sophisticated money laundering techniques used by their men. </p>
<p>American mafia women have an ambivalent status. They are predominantly portrayed as passive bystanders, fashion icons with no <a href="https://rb.gy/6il15c">real criminal agency</a>.</p>
<p>This is very different from Italian mafia women – Sicilian, Neapolitan and Calabrian. At the higher leadership level, women have traditionally remained tactful and invisible for the good of the organisation. The invisibility of women is key for profit and the long-term survival of the clan. </p>
<p>When women are seen, they dress in black (like good Mediterranean widows) or sober colours, as mafias have understood that this deflects attention from them and their possible criminal complicity. This sartorial choice projects that there’s “nothing to see here”. </p>
<p>In this way, Italian mafia women have always been portrayed as passive and ignorant bystanders, not visible and loud mob wives. Important Italian mafia women may like branded clothes, luxury and exotic holidays but they will never show off. Their discretion as well as their participation is vital for the existence of the crime group.</p>
<p>A prime example is <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maria-licciardi-mafia-boss-sentenced-almost-13-years-in-prison-italy-camorra/">Maria Licciardi</a>, known as “<em>a piccirella</em>” (the little one), who was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2023. Licciardi ran extortion rackets as the boss of the Licciardi Camorra crime syndicate clan and was known as a true “<em>madrina</em>” (godmother). </p>
<p>Another example was <a href="https://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_404.html">Angela Russo</a>, known as “<em>nonna eroina</em>” (grandmother heroin), was suspected of being a drug courier between Palermo and the Italian mainland. While on trial in 1982, she explained she had, in fact, been acting as boss.</p>
<h2>TikTok glorifying the criminal underworld</h2>
<p>More recently, at the street level of the mafias, things might be changing. The use of Instagram and TikTok have exploded among the young. Naples is a particular hub of TikTok production with many focusing on <a href="https://rb.gy/w0ur43">mafia images, symbols and messages</a> as well as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/feb/04/neomelodica-the-italian-pop-loved-by-the-mob-and-hated-by-the-law">neomelodica music</a> (Italian pop music).</p>
<p>Women are part of this showing off of social status in posts <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sabrinaprtan/video/7134747453097659653">flaunting their</a> latest clothes, their plastic surgery and holiday destinations. However, if these women were important in the crime group they would probably not be showing off in this way, and rather would try not to be seen. </p>
<p>Often these constructed images are empty, superficial illusions that hide the everyday misery, suffering, sacrifice and survival strategies of many women and families. There is no “Mafia chic” but rather the daily worries of putting food on the table, not getting caught or being killed by rivals, and keeping your kids off the street so they don’t join the up-and-coming clan. </p>
<p>Many of these women come from poverty. Facing bad housing, lack of education and few job opportunities, the only real way of making money and of survival is through the illegal economy and organised crime groups. These illegal money-making opportunities, however, are not stable, which means that a steady flow of income is not guaranteed.</p>
<p>Signora Anna, for instance, has to work long hours undertaking backbreaking cleaning work to pay her rent, bills and buy food for her and husband, who cannot work. Money is still very tight, there is often nothing to spare and sometimes women like her end up penniless. </p>
<p>The TikTok trend is fundamentally a distraction from addressing the real hardships that girls and women deal with within organised crime spaces on a daily basis. It contributes to our normalisation of violence and the excessive wealth that bosses make illegally. It also perpetuates the stereotype of women as bystanders who benefit from the crime while not being active participants in it.</p>
<p>Reading the latest fashion articles on the mob wives phenomenon, I am left with a sour taste in my mouth as mainstream and social media naively replicate and amplify some of these simple stereotypes. TikTok might be full of young women presenting their mob wife looks, but ultimately they end up trivialising and glamorising mafias and organised crime that remain a real social problem. </p>
<p><em>*Not her real name.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felia Allum is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).</span></em></p>Real ‘mob wives’ either avoid drawing attention to themselves or present a superficial illusion of what their lives are really like.Felia Allum, Professor of Comparative Organised Crime and Corruption, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2212332024-01-19T10:14:39Z2024-01-19T10:14:39ZThe Sopranos at 25: mafia tale of murder, mayhem and family created a golden age of television<p>Twenty-five years after its debut on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/01/hbo-book-home-box-office-its-not-tv">HBO</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/dec/19/sopranos-hit-social-media-generation-mafia-series-emotional-struggles">The Sopranos</a> consistently sits at the top of lists of the <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/best-tv-shows-of-all-time-1234598313/">greatest TV shows of all time</a>. The pressures of being number one was not something that its creator, <a href="https://www.allmovie.com/artist/david-chase-vn15570136">David Chase</a>, had ever entertained.</p>
<p>A somewhat dour producer/writer (The Rockford Files, Northern Exposure), Chase had inadvertently ascended the ranks to become a sought-after TV talent who nevertheless aspired to a film career. Still, in pitching the concept of a mobster mired in internal conflict, he found an appetite for change amongst the networks he was working for.</p>
<p>With stagnant formats and generalised output, most executives were struggling to find a hit in this brash post-1980s world. But after punting his unconventional “bad guy as protagonist” idea and being repeatedly rejected, Chase found himself walking away from HBO in 1997 with a deal as both writer and director of the pilot.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pSQCQ2ZngG8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>When the first series got the green light, he set about achieving his vision, without much hope that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQCQ2ZngG8">he would get beyond one season</a>. Adept at subverting the story conventions of the time, Chase had a product that fit the format but raised the game in terms of character development, depth, black humour and, for television, a visually enriching cinematic style. The Sopranos instantly stood out as something bold and innovative.</p>
<p>Reinventing a mafia character to add complexity beyond the achievements of James Cagney, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro would be a challenge that James Gandolfini would relish, but which would ultimately <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-gandolfini-struggles-sopranos-tony-tinderbox-book-hbo-executive-2021-12?r=US&IR=T#:%7E:text=%22In%20order%20to%20become%20Tony,%22exhausted%22%20by%20the%20role.">take its toll on the actor</a> as he wrestled with the darkness of his character. </p>
<h2>Gandolfini: an imperfect anti-hero</h2>
<p>Like the character he was to play, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Gandolfini">James Gandolfini</a> also hailed from New Jersey. He was a character actor with depth, but HBO was initially worried about his leading-man qualities. Even Chase, who had his heart set on Bruce Springsteen’s musician pal <a href="https://www.littlesteven.com/bio">Steven van Zandt</a> (who went on to play sidekick Silvio), had to be persuaded.</p>
<p>But ultimately, the risk paid off and it was considered iconic casting – Gandolfini’s credibility playing both family man and brutish avenger were vital to the success of both series and character. This bear-like, aggressive tough guy had inner demons and this show was going to share them with you. And Gandolfini was going to make you care.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KMx4iFcozK0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Fully inhabiting Tony Soprano, Gandolfini brought heart and empathy to the role as did <a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/people/edie-falco/">Edie Falco</a> as his long-suffering spouse Carmela, who helped bolster the familial dynamics of discord further. As the seasons rolled on, her role became evermore devastating and enthralling as her character hardened.</p>
<p>Tony was at the forefront of a new wave of lead characters that permitted sympathy for the devil. Here was an audience that wanted fallible, relatable characters, not just straightforward heroes and tough guys.</p>
<p>Relatability is a crucial factor in the show’s iconic status and timeless appeal. It also tapped into a growing trend in the US of talking through psychological problems and mental health in therapy. Tony’s burgeoning awareness of his own mental health problems is the revelatory moment that kicks off the series: a fainting episode that cannot be medically explained sees him prescribed a session with psychiatrist Dr Melfi (Lorraine Bracco).</p>
<p>Creating an imperfect anti-hero at the heart of this mafia family was a stroke of genius. External conflict meets internal conflict, as an alpha male mobster manifests the psychological demons conjured up by a troubled relationship with his ruthless mother, the indomitable Livia. This key relationship was central to Tony’s dilemma and his fate.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DD5hEtyp6I4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In the first episode, Chase established Tony’s character by having him carefully shepherd baby ducks out of his swimming pool. Here was a man who was kind to animals but deadly when betrayed. Audiences were frequently disconcerted watching him execute grisly murders, then head home for dinner with his family.</p>
<p>Episodically, the show pivoted from such violent and bloody action to small familial scenes, forgoing a traditional linear narrative structure for huge emotional arcs that would span whole seasons. With no “story of the day”, no episode could be deemed to have a happy ending – just as Chase wanted it.</p>
<h2>A golden age of drama</h2>
<p>Subsequently, HBO found itself at the forefront of a new golden age of “cinematic television”. The Sopranos paved the way for new worlds and a wild west of platforms, full of promise and hope. Soon, new voices such as Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, Marvellous Mrs Maisel) and Lena Dunham (Girls) would break through the din of white, male writers to create a broader perspective and elevate sidelined female stories that existed outside the familiar, patriarchal world that Tony inhabited.</p>
<p>Genre-busting series such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/sep/26/transparent-review-the-best-thing-on-tv-at-the-moment">Transparent</a> had no need to tiptoe around challenging storylines with ever-evolving, selfish, judgmental, entirely flawed but endearing characters. Similarly, <a href="https://simonc.me.uk/tv-review-orange-is-the-new-black-season-1-db6457187df9">Orange is the New Black</a>, gave us empathetic, engaging backstories to the female prisoners. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jan/20/breaking-bad-10-years-on-tv-is-still-in-walter-whites-shadow">Breaking Bad’s</a> Walter White trajectory, from quiet good guy to drug kingpin, would begin its arc a short six months after The Sopranos took its final bow in July 2007. And <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211015-why-the-wire-is-the-greatest-tv-series-of-the-21st-century">The Wire</a> continued the evolutionary story from March 2008 with a show that would go on to explore institutional failure, drugs, deprivation and the challenges of urban society.</p>
<p>It’s ultimately impossible to conceive of White, drug-addicted <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/sep/06/have-you-been-watching-nurse-jackie">Nurse Jackie</a>, serial killer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/nov/08/dexter-new-blood-review-leaner-hungrier-serial-killer">Dexter</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/29/mad-men-box-set-review">Mad Men</a> lothario Don Draper without the flawed Tony Soprano. And unfathomable that a TV show could have the same impact in today’s streaming panorama, where flawed characters are the norm. </p>
<p>But in a blistering attack recently, David Chase <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sopranos-creator-david-chase-the-streaming-giants-are-killing-off-tv-f0bhf68zj">decried the current state of affairs</a>, claiming that thanks to multi-tasking viewers with short attention spans, the 25-year golden age of groundbreaking, taboo-busting TV is well and truly over, and executives are once again risk averse.</p>
<p>Grateful for the quality TV dramas that came after, for many this is what makes The Sopranos the perennial number one.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Steventon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The deeply flawed but intriguing Tony Soprano opened up a whole new world of complicated relatable characters that drew audiences in their millions.Jane Steventon, Course Leader, BA (Hons) Screenwriting; Deputy Course Leader & Senior Lecturer, BA (Hons) Film Production, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2174052023-12-13T14:57:28Z2023-12-13T14:57:28ZWe’re finally starting to understand the active role women play in organised crime groups<p>I met Caroline, a shy and pretty teenager who should be full of life and yet is not, in the course of my research. She explains to me how, as a 14-year-old, she became trapped in a cycle of violence when she transported money and drugs while being systematically sexually abused by the members of a local organised crime group. </p>
<p>She was threatened with attack if she spoke to anyone about her predicament. She was lured into this situation by one of her trusted girlfriends, who looked on as she was exploited.</p>
<p>This story highlights the complexity of women’s involvement in organised crime groups. They can be, and often are, victims. But they can also be complicit – actively involved and fully endorsing criminal values, like Caroline’s friend. </p>
<p>Women remain an unacknowledged component of transnational organised crime groups, which are largely thought of as macho and masculine. But we need only think of the mothers of mafia bosses in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta and the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11133-018-9389-8">Neapolitan Camorra</a> to realise that women are integral to the operation of these groups.</p>
<p>Our lack of understanding of the role women play is unhelpful if we want to combat crime effectively. We capture glimpses of women, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/169/monograph/book/76948">here and there</a> but, on the whole, there exists a gender lacuna. Therefore, the picture we have of organised crime remains incomplete.</p>
<p>Over the last couple of years, there has slowly been a growing interest in <a href="https://sherloc.unodc.org/cld/uploads/pdf/Issue_Paper_Organized_Crime_and_Gender_1.pdf">this topic</a>. And a <a href="https://www.osce.org/secretariat/560049">new report</a> from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) seeks to bring new understanding to this issue by focusing specifically on the women who are full participants in organised crime, not as victims. I was a consulting expert on this piece of work.</p>
<p>Based on questionnaires, in-depth interviews and previous research, this report seeks to go beyond the traditional gender binaries and see women for what they are – people with their own agency in organised crime. They play crucial roles in the family and household, where they can also act as advisers and decision makers in their criminal organisations. They can navigate the criminal underworld as intelligently as their male counterparts. </p>
<h2>Getting in</h2>
<p>What becomes clear from this report is that women are recruited in different ways depending on their place in the organised crime hierarchy, which is similar to the way men enter these groups.</p>
<p>Women in family criminal networks such as mafias may be educated into working for the family business because that is “what you do”. Meanwhile, girls and women in the lower levels of organised crime who do not belong directly to a crime family are often recruited as mules, transporters, lookouts and dealers. </p>
<p>This may be because they either need the money to survive, they want to belong or are simply looking for affection. This recruitment at the lower end of the criminal hierarchy is at times connected to sexual and emotional violence and abuse. </p>
<p>The OSCE report underlines that the nature of women’s roles in organised crime is much more varied than is usually presumed. There is also far less difference between what men do and what women do than we previously thought.</p>
<p>The women in these groups will do what is necessary to survive and get on, whether this means recruiting other women for human trafficking rings, becoming street dealers or allowing their names to be used as front companies for money laundering. Women <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003146568/graphic-narratives-organised-crime-gender-power-europe-felia-allum-anna-mitchell">make decisions</a> within this criminal underworld and are present across all criminal markets. </p>
<p>They are often the people who pass on criminal values to new generations within crime families and groups, contributing to criminal careers and cultural continuity of clans and groups. With this in mind, it starts to become clear that the foundations and roots of organised crime are, essentially, female.</p>
<h2>Getting out</h2>
<p>However, the report finds that women are underrepresented or completely absent from State witness protection programmes. When they are present, it is just as the wife or partner of a criminal rather than as independent participants in their own right. </p>
<p>For example, often, if women want to get out of the mafia, they must slot into their partner’s protection arrangements or follow a system that is set up for men. Women are not being offered the same exit opportunities as men because their specific needs as women and as mothers are rarely taken into consideration. </p>
<p>Women can be crucial in encouraging men to leave organised crime networks but they can also be the ones who refuse to leave the criminal underworld. This needs to be understood and taken into account. </p>
<p>Despite recent progress, we still need far more specific information about women as perpetrators of organised crime. Only by acknowledging their agency and listening to their experiences will we finally have a complete picture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217405/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felia Allum worked as an external expert for the OSCE on this report. She is also a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).</span></em></p>Women are often victims of these highly patriarchal crime systems – but they can also be powerful decision makers and exploiters of others.Felia Allum, Professor of Comparative Organised Crime and Corruption, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122392023-08-31T12:19:57Z2023-08-31T12:19:57ZRICO is often used to target the mob and cartels − but Trump and his associates aren’t the first outside those worlds to face charges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545340/original/file-20230829-22497-mdx0an.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks during a news conference after former President Donald Trump's Aug. 15 indictment. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fulton-county-district-attorney-fani-willis-speaks-during-a-news-photo/1615613099?adppopup=true">Joe Raedle/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It might seem odd to some that former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants, many of whom are lawyers and served as senior government officials, were charged with racketeering regarding their alleged attempt to <a href="https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2023/08/CRIMINAL-INDICTMENT-Trump-Fulton-County-GA.pdf">overturn the results of the 2020 election</a> in Georgia.</p>
<p>Racketeering charges are complex but generally speak to dishonest business dealings. Many racketeering prosecutions involve lucrative criminal enterprises, such as illegal drug operations or the Mafia. </p>
<p>Whatever the lawfulness of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, no one claims his conduct was part of a Mafia scheme. </p>
<p>I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DMWfDCgAAAAJ&hl=en">am a scholar of criminal law</a> and procedure. Prosecutors sometimes charge white-collar defendants who are not part of a mob with RICO violations.</p>
<p>Trump is set to be arraigned on Sept. 6, 2023, in Atlanta, for his alleged attempt to overturn the election in that state. At that time, he will be read his formal charges and will plead guilty or, far more likely, not guilty. </p>
<p>A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-the-full-georgia-indictment-against-trump-and-18-allies">indicted Trump</a> and 18 other political associates on Aug. 15, 2023. They are facing charges under Georgia’s <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-16/chapter-14/">Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act</a>, often called RICO. </p>
<p>Trump and others, including former Trump <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-giuliani-georgia-election-indictment-fulton-county-203b1e69cbff227a0bf8cc59a6bb645f">attorney Rudolph Giuliani</a>, are also charged with a number of other specific crimes such as forgery, filing false documents and <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-16/chapter-4/section-16-4-7/">solicitation</a> of <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-16/chapter-10/article-1/section-16-10-1/">violation of oath by a public officer</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545342/original/file-20230829-22-rsr2b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white cartoon shows a map of New York City with photos of different known Mafia men, including Al Capone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545342/original/file-20230829-22-rsr2b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545342/original/file-20230829-22-rsr2b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545342/original/file-20230829-22-rsr2b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545342/original/file-20230829-22-rsr2b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545342/original/file-20230829-22-rsr2b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545342/original/file-20230829-22-rsr2b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545342/original/file-20230829-22-rsr2b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A graphic from 1933 shows where different gang leaders, including Al Capone, operated. Before 1970, members of the Mafia or other similar groups were tried individually for their crimes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/heres-the-way-the-racketeering-group-lined-up-in-the-early-news-photo/515619350?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>RICO’s relatively short history</h2>
<p>In 1970, <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/Crime-Control-Act-of-1970/">Congress enacted</a> the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-96">Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law</a>.</p>
<p>Before 1970, prosecutors could <a href="https://www.justia.com/criminal/docs/rico/">prosecute individuals</a> only for conspiracy and other specific offenses, even if they were allegedly Mafia-related crimes and even if the defendants were alleged to be career or professional offenders. </p>
<p>At least <a href="https://www.findlaw.com/state/criminal-laws/racketeering.html">31 states</a>, including <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-16/chapter-14/">Georgia, have since enacted</a> so-called “little RICO” or “state RICO” laws modeled after federal RICO, allowing such prosecutions to be brought in their courts. </p>
<p>The federal and state versions of RICO are notoriously <a href="https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/training/primers/2021_Primer_RICO.pdf">detailed</a> and <a href="https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?httpsredir=1&article=1415&context=gsulr">complex</a>. </p>
<p>In essence, however, most versions of the law create a new, and more serious, offense – namely, engagement in a pattern of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/racketeering.asp">specified criminal activity</a> as part of an organization. Sometimes the organization is a criminal gang of some kind that exists to make an illegal profit, such as robbery teams, loan sharks, narcotics manufacturers, professional gamblers or human traffickers. </p>
<p>The organization could also be an otherwise legitimate business or governmental entity. Making money is sometimes, but not always, a factor in racketeering cases.</p>
<p>So-called RICO predicates – the underlying crimes that form the pattern – encompass a wide range of illegal conduct, including crimes as diverse as <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/bribery">bribery</a>, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/mail_fraud">mail fraud</a>, kidnapping and murder. </p>
<p>In general, both federal and state judges have interpreted RICO broadly, in both allowing charges and convicting defendants. RICO claims may also be brought by civil plaintiffs. But in such cases only monetary damages and other forms of civil relief may be awarded, and this does not result in imprisonment. </p>
<h2>Anyone can get charged with RICO</h2>
<p>In 1989, the Supreme Court explained that while <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/492/229/">RICO was originally intended for gangsters</a>, it could apply to companies and other people who are not part of an organized crime operation, as long as they violated the terms of the statute. </p>
<p>That year, the Supreme Court was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1989/06/27/supreme-court-backs-use-of-rico-statute-damages/15eb8a87-5873-474b-8952-f2d87bf4e78d/">considering a case</a> in which the telephone company Northwestern Bell, which was serving the Minneapolis area, was accused of bribing state officials at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission with gifts and employment in order to win rate increases. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court explained that Congress had organized crime in mind when it drafted the law but intentionally made it broader, encompassing a wider range of criminal conduct. </p>
<p>So, if otherwise upstanding citizens who work for legitimate businesses commit acts of bribery and corruption, this can lead to a RICO charge.</p>
<p>A few years later, in 1994, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/510/249/">the Supreme Court unanimously ruled</a> that abortion clinics could use the federal RICO law to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/01/25/abortion-clinics-can-use-racketeer-law-on-protests/bbb61b8b-b737-47ba-8161-7cf5a0b25237/">sue anti-abortion protesters</a> who conspired to shut them down. </p>
<p>In 1997, the federal government <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/522/52">charged a Texas sheriff</a> with RICO after he accepted money from a federal prisoner in exchange for conjugal visits with the prisoner’s wife or girlfriend. The sheriff, Mario Salino, was <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/12/03/texas-jail-bribery-conviction-is-upheld/">sentenced to three years in prison</a> and fined $5,000. </p>
<p>Cases in the U.S. Supreme Court included liquor dealers suspected of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-725.ZS.html">evading Canadian export taxes</a> and a person accused of transporting automobile titles with <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/498/103">falsified odometer readings</a>. </p>
<p>Over the past few decades, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/castro-enterprise-leader-convicted-rico-conspiracy-and-other-violent-crimes">many business leaders</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/philadelphia-congressman-and-associates-convicted-rico-conspiracy-public-corruption">politicians</a> and other <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/11/740596170/fbi-arrests-former-top-puerto-rico-officials-in-government-corruption-scandal">government officials</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/business/dealbook/rico-insys-opioid-executives.html">have been convicted</a> of state and local RICO offenses for various crimes. </p>
<p>In August 2023, for example, a former mayor of Humacao, Puerto Rico, was sentenced to three years and one month in prison for his involvement in a bribery scheme. According to the Department of Justice, the politician, Reinaldo Vargas-Rodriguez, privately <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-puerto-rico-mayor-sentenced-accepting-bribes">accepted cash from two companies</a> in exchange for his giving them municipal contracts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545338/original/file-20230829-29-huoio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large screen on a street with trees and parked cars shows a photo of Donald Trump's mugshot." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545338/original/file-20230829-29-huoio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545338/original/file-20230829-29-huoio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545338/original/file-20230829-29-huoio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545338/original/file-20230829-29-huoio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545338/original/file-20230829-29-huoio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545338/original/file-20230829-29-huoio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545338/original/file-20230829-29-huoio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An outdoor screen in London displays a news story showing former President Donald Trump’s mug shot following his arrest in Georgia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-outdoor-screen-in-central-london-displays-a-news-story-news-photo/1623314163?adppopup=true">Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Georgia courts are on board</h2>
<p>Georgia courts agree with the Supreme Court that their state RICO law requires no allegation or proof of “<a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/court-of-appeals/1990/a89a1832-0.html">nexus with organized crime</a>.” </p>
<p>A range of people in Georgia have been hit with RICO charges. In 2005, Georgia prosecutors charged a former DeKalb County <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/2005/s05a0897-1.html">sheriff named Sidney Dorsey</a> with killing his successor, as well as racketeering and other crimes. <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/derwin-brown-daughter-brandy-remembers-father/85-6825c440-0022-41af-a504-dd0fb0fa8d7c">Dorsey is</a> serving <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/sidney-dorsey-shot-death-clayton-county/Uz5AVLnfjNJpQ6NTgrnpLL/">life in prison</a>. Truck stop owners and operators accused of doctoring the <a href="https://cases.justia.com/georgia/supreme-court/s09a0371.pdf">prices and fuel quality labels on gas pumps</a> have also been prosecuted. </p>
<p>Perhaps most relevant to the charges against Trump and his associates, the <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1984/41044-1.html">Georgia Supreme Court</a> rejected a claim by Georgia’s elected commissioner of labor that officeholders seeking reelection were exempt from RICO: “By its express terms, the RICO act includes as a crime a reelection campaign by the holder of public office in which 2 or more similar or interrelated predicate offenses specified in the act are committed.”</p>
<p>It is not yet clear how Trump and his former associates will fare with RICO charges in a Georgia court. But they are far from the first people with no involvement in an organized criminal organization to be forced to defend themselves against racketeering charges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel J. Chin receives funding from the University of California and the State Bar of California.</span></em></p>Federal and state RICO charges, which target racketeering, have been applied to a wide range of crimes committed by politicians and business people over the past few decades.Gabriel J. Chin, Professor of Criminal Law, Immigration, and Race and Law, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086322023-07-24T14:47:04Z2023-07-24T14:47:04ZWhen mafia threatens democracy: research shows ordinary people are less honest in countries hit by organised crime<p>Organised crime casts a <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Studies/Illicit_financial_flows_2011_web.pdf">long shadow</a>, driving violence and an illicit economy. But our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19485506231176615">research</a> has uncovered some more subtle dimensions to its influence, too. We’ve found that organised crime can undermine the civic honesty of ordinary, law abiding people. </p>
<p>Civic honesty means adhering to shared moral norms that characterise actions such as tax evasion, bribery or welfare fraud as unacceptable. Civic honesty is a cornerstone for a robust and thriving democracy. It creates a society where people follow rules not out of fear of reprisal but due to their moral convictions. That, in turn, lessens the need for intensive surveillance and costly punitive measures. </p>
<p>Typically, civic honesty is driven by trust in public bodies such as the government and police. This trust represents citizens’ stake in a tacit <a href="https://www.econometricsociety.org/publications/econometrica/2020/07/01/state-capacity-reciprocity-and-social-contract">social contract</a> according to which they perform their civic duties in exchange for the competency, fairness and reliability of their government.</p>
<p>However, the link between political trust and civic honesty varies substantially from country to country. We wanted to explore if the presence of organised crime was a factor in this variability.</p>
<h2>83 countries</h2>
<p>To test this, we used an <a href="https://ocindex.net/">index</a> of global organised cime to rate the influence of criminal groups in different countries and regions on a scale of 1 to 10. We included mafia-style groups with a clear structure and a recognisable name like the Cosa Nostra in Italy or the Yakuza in Japan, and looser criminal associations without a clear structure or name. </p>
<p>We also looked at state-embedded groups – organised criminals that operate by infiltrating the state apparatus – and foreign criminal groups operating outside their home country, such as the Italian mafia operating in the US.</p>
<p>We paired this index with survey data from more than 128,000 people in 83 countries from two <a href="https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSEVSjoint2017.jsp">large-scale research studies</a> investigating beliefs, opinions and values. From these studies, we obtained two measures of individual differences: political trust and civic honesty.</p>
<p>The political trust measure was based on how much confidence people had in key legal and political institutions – the police, civil service, government, political parties and the justice system.</p>
<p>The civic honesty index was based on how justifiable respondents thought four illegal actions were – accepting a bribe, cheating on taxes, fare dodging on public transport and benefit fraud.</p>
<p>Data for these two measures were available from eight African countries, 13 countries in the Americas, 26 Asian nations, 34 European nations and two in Oceania. </p>
<h2>Corruption undermines civic honesty</h2>
<p>We found that citizens tended to be less inclined towards civic honesty in countries where organised criminal groups were more widespread. In these places, corruption is more commonly justified. </p>
<p>We also expected that people who report higher political trust would be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-006-9013-6">more civically honest</a>. If you believe in the integrity and reliability of the government, the police and the courts, you are more likely to abide by the rules they impose. </p>
<p>Political trust is a reflection of the legitimacy of institutions because when people see institutions as legitimate, they are more likely to internalise the norms and values they promote as their own. </p>
<p>People tend to follow the directives of legitimate institutions out of a conviction that such directives constitute the proper, moral way to act. Therefore, how much people trust institutions should be linked to their civic honesty.</p>
<p>That was indeed the case in countries that had fewer problems with organised crime, such as Denmark, Finland and Singapore. However, the picture was quite different in countries where there was more organised crime, exposing an interesting dynamic.</p>
<p>In countries such as Italy, Mexico and Russia, the association between civic honesty and political trust was weaker or even non-existent. Knowing how much trust a person has in institutions therefore tells you little or nothing about what they think about civic honesty.</p>
<p>We interpret this as an indication that in countries more strongly influenced by organised crime, institutions lose their role as moral referents. People’s judgements about the justifiability of illegal actions are not predicted by how much they trust political and legal institutions. </p>
<p>When our understanding of the appropriateness of tax evasion becomes disconnected from our confidence in institutions, for example, it shows that our norms are out of step with those of the institution. We don’t yet know what drives people’s judgements in these situations but it is likely that the perceived <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190038">probability of being caught</a> or personal values become more central.</p>
<h2>Total takeover</h2>
<p>Remarkably, however, in countries experiencing the most extreme criminal influence, the correlation between trust and honesty actually inverted. If people had a greater trust in public institutions, they were more likely to show a lower level of civic honesty. </p>
<p>In countries such as Colombia, Iraq and Venezuela, people’s trust in institutions is associated with higher justification of illegal actions like bribery and fare dodging.</p>
<p>In these countries, not only do institutions lose their role as moral referents, but people’s confidence in what presumably are corrupted institutions is linked to them finding it easier to justify illegality. </p>
<p>This seemingly paradoxical outcome could be attributed to criminal groups successfully co-opting the state, thereby subverting the nature and moral responsibilities of institutions. </p>
<p>Institutions may be perceived as being manipulated to serve illegal interests, which leads to a situation where the citizens who have confidence in corrupted institutions are also the ones with a higher tendency towards immorality and crime. </p>
<h2>Crime as a democratic issue</h2>
<p>The implications of these findings for democratic systems are profound. Organised criminal groups can play a part in altering societal norms by undermining the moral authority of public bodies. An insidious erosion of the social contract can follow, shifting norms away from the principles of civic honesty.</p>
<p>The unchecked growth of organised crime doesn’t merely lead to more illegal activities and lower public security, it threatens the very fabric of our democracies. It can lead to a broader acceptance of illegal behaviours by subtly limiting, or even sabotaging, political and legal authorities’ capacity to promote a culture of legality and cooperation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Giovanni A. Travaglino receives funding from the UKRI for the "Secret Power" project (Grant No. EP/X02170X/1). The grant was awarded to him under the European Commission’s “European Research Council - STG” Scheme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alberto Mirisola and Pascal Burgmer do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mafia groups don’t just cause harm through violence, they can erode the principles that make a democracy function.Giovanni A. Travaglino, Professor of Social Psychology and Criminology, Royal Holloway University of LondonAlberto Mirisola, Associate Professor of Social Psychology, University of Palermo Pascal Burgmer, Lecturer in Psychology, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2085452023-07-06T07:46:50Z2023-07-06T07:46:50ZHow ‘La Grande Bellezza’ captured Italy’s Berlusconian era<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535363/original/file-20230703-212535-54j063.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C1920%2C1077&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jep Gambardella, the narcissistic and excessive central character in Sorrentino's allegory of Silvio Berlusconi.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Allociné</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Silvio Berlusconi, a leading figure on the Italian right, died on 12 June. His career was marked by a series of public and private scandals and by the school of thought that it gave rise to, <a href="https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/berlusconismo/">“Berlusconism”</a>. Many an Italian film <a href="https://www.rollingstone.it/cinema-tv/film/silvio-berlusconi-il-cinema-del-caimano-i-film-che-lo-hanno-raccontato/755244/">has attempted to capture it</a> since the 1990s.</p>
<p>One director in particular has distinguished himself in exploring the stigma left by Berlusconi on Italian society: Paolo Sorrentino. His 2018 film <em>Loro</em> (“Them”) is perhaps <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/transalpina/448">his most direct rendition</a> of the sulphurous figure of the <em>Cavaliere</em>. However, the major themes associated with the right-wing leader are already broadly sketched out in <em>La Grande Bellezza</em> (Oscar for best foreign language film in 2014), which follows the existential upheaval of protagonist Jep Gambardella, a worldly and disillusioned sexagenarian who eventually regains his lust for life by delving into his past.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/koxRDhAQOpw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Entertainment as “categorical imperative”</h2>
<p>Of the four salient features of Berlusconism shown in <em>La Grande Bellezza</em>, the most striking is that of the pursuit of individual pleasure. In an interview, Sorrentino said that Berlusconi raised entertainment during his tenure to the level of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/life-among-italys-ruins-20140122-318zw.html">“categorical imperative”</a>.</p>
<p>Take the sweeping, Fellinian scene of the night club in the first part of the film, for example. It is a perfect allegory of the Berlusconian pleasure principle, calling to mind various sex scandals that took place in the years prior to the film’s shooting. One thinks of the <em>Cavaliere</em>’s relationship with a then-18-year-old aspiring model, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/24/silvio-berlusconi-noemi-letizia-italy">Noemi Letizia</a> in 2008; the escort <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/02/patrizia-daddario-silvio-berlusconi">Patrizia D’Addario</a> in 2009, or <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-23034167">the underage Moroccan prostitute, Karima El Mahroug</a> in 2010, an affair which went on to become known as the Ruby sex case. The scene’s excesses are but a hyperbolic copy of the hedonistic parties held at Berlusconi’s villas, pictured in great detail by the Italian press at the time.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R-6UZfEduOI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The film’s characters embody respective facets of Berlusconism, namely, the desired and the desiring. On the one hand, we have Jep Gambardella, the party host and target of its dancers’ lustful glances; on the other, his friend Lello Cava, a businessman with a towering sex drive, seen shaking with excitement at the feet of a young woman dancing on a cube. Like many young women gravitating around Berlusconi, she’s there to <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-vacarme-2017-4-page-88.htm">make it as a showgirl</a>.</p>
<h2>Television and the cult of the self</h2>
<p>The second feature of Berlusconi’s life is television, a medium inextricably linked to his financial success and political rise. The party is held under the aegis of “Lorena”, an opulent woman who emerges from Jep’s enormous birthday cake, played by none other than Serena Grandi. One of Italy’s sex symbols from the 1980s and 1990s, she appeared on several TV entertainment shows in the 1980s and 2000s. Her character is somewhat of a caricature of her public persona, merging two themes – sex and television – dear to Berlusconi.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534768/original/file-20230629-29-7yoje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534768/original/file-20230629-29-7yoje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534768/original/file-20230629-29-7yoje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534768/original/file-20230629-29-7yoje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534768/original/file-20230629-29-7yoje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534768/original/file-20230629-29-7yoje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534768/original/file-20230629-29-7yoje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Serena Grandi plays herself as a former party girl.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The third grand Berlusconian theme is narcissism. In the first half of the film, we find it personified by Orietta, a woman who spends her time photographing herself and sending selfies to her admirers. This obsession with beauty and youth is also captured by the extraordinary scene in which a Botox guru administrates expensive injections to patients who revere him as their spiritual leader. It’s no secret that Berlusconi relished cosmetic surgery. The Cavaliere not only resorted to it extensively on himself, but also touted its merits to others, claiming women who had subjected themselves to the needle were “more beautiful”.</p>
<h2>Corruption at every level</h2>
<p>The last major feature of Berlusconi’s life to stand out in the film is corruption. From falsifying business accounts to bribing lawyers, the former Prime Minister has been charged with almost every offence under the sun. His right-hand man, Marcello Dell’Utri, has also been indicted for <a href="https://lejournal.info/article/berlusconi-et-la-mafia-le-pacte-impuni/">complicity with the Mafia</a>.</p>
<p>This aspect of Berlusconi’s persona, which still contains grey areas, is reflected in the character of Giulio Moneta, an enigmatic businessman and neighbour of the protagonist, who appears from his high balcony but in reality, serves the interests of the underworld. Arrested by the police at the end of the film, he says, handcuffed, that he is one of those “moving the country forward” – a defence strategy typical of Berlusconi and his defence lawyers.</p>
<h2>Historical perspective</h2>
<p>The strength of Berlusconi’s depiction also lies in its historical perspective. Tapping into a range of images, Sorrentino helps viewers understand that Berlusconi’s triumph was made possible by the decline of the two major ideologies that shaped Italy’s 20th-century history: socialism (and its derivative, Marxism), and Catholicism.</p>
<p>The decline of Marxism is depicted in a scene that is at once solemn and grotesque, in which a famous body artist, her pubic area dyed red to reveal the sickle and hammer crest, comes crashing headlong into a Roman aqueduct. Through this spectacular, bloody performance, she represents the dead end to which the Soviet interpretation of Marxist thought has led.</p>
<p>At the same time, the protagonist is confronted with religion on a daily basis in the city of Rome, from the myriad of religious figures he sees in the streets or from his balcony, to the monuments dotted around the Eternal City. Yet Jep Gambardella’s view of religion, imbued with nostalgia and strangeness, is typical of a secularised society in which religion no longer plays the primary role of organising authority.</p>
<p>The idea that Berlusconi could flourish in an ideological vacuum created by the decline of these two great ideologies is expressed in the transition from the first to the second sequence of the film. <em>La Grande Bellezza</em> opens with a stroll on Mount Janiculum, offering a series of images that alternatively evoke socialism – i.e., the statue of Garibaldi on horseback, or the busts of Garibaldi supporters on display in a public garden – and Christianity. We are taken to the fountain “Acqua Paola”, commissioned by Pope Paul V in 1608, while the film’s first shot shows the cannon shot at midday from Janiculum Hill in Rome, a practice initiated by Pope Pius IX in 1948 to allow the Roman bells to ring in unison.</p>
<p>The transition to the second sequence, that of the nightclub, is a guest’s hysterical scream filmed in close-up. It acts as a cry of distress to express the transition from strong but bygone ideologies to the ideology of seemingly carefree, narcissistic enjoyment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534809/original/file-20230629-15-5oudti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534809/original/file-20230629-15-5oudti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534809/original/file-20230629-15-5oudti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534809/original/file-20230629-15-5oudti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534809/original/file-20230629-15-5oudti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534809/original/file-20230629-15-5oudti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534809/original/file-20230629-15-5oudti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cry of</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>La Grande Bellezza</em>, which began filming in August 2012, is imbued with a pungent whiff of decadence that harks back to the end of Berlusconi’s political reign. Beset by sex scandals and Italy’s dramatic finances – “on the brink of a precipice” is how the business newspaper <em>Il Sole 24 ore</em> put it a few days earlier – the <em>Cavaliere</em> stepped down as prime minister on 12 November 2011. In the last part of the film, the protagonist can indeed be seen staring in silence at the capsized hull of the <em>Costa Concordia</em>, the cruise ship that sank on 12 January 2012.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208545/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fabrice De Poli ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The Oscar-winning film sketches out the broad themes of Berluconist hedonism, all against the backdrop of the decline of ideologies that shaped 20th-century Italy.Fabrice De Poli, enseignant-chercheur en Etudes Italiennes (poésie, prose et cinéma de l'Italie - XIX-XXème s.), Université Savoie Mont BlancLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2067312023-06-30T12:39:52Z2023-06-30T12:39:52ZFrom Stonewall to Pride, the fight for equal rights has been rooted in resistance led by Black transwomen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534655/original/file-20230628-4980-adwtxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=215%2C26%2C982%2C777&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An unidentified participant in a New York City Pride March during the 1980s. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-an-unidentified-participant-dressed-in-a-blue-news-photo/1250531142?adppopup=true">Mariett Pathy Allen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Its unclear who threw the first brick at Stonewall Inn on that night in New York City that arguably launched the gay rights liberation movement. </p>
<p>As part of queer lore, <a href="https://ucnj.org/mpj/about-marsha-p-johnson/">Marsha P. Johnson</a>, a Black transwoman at the forefront of gay liberation, or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sylvia-Rivera">Sylvia Rivera</a>, a Latina transwoman, was the first. But based on their accounts of that night of June 28, 1969, neither threw that first brick. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-llnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=I+was+uptown+and+I+didn%E2%80%99t+get+downtown+until+about+two+o%E2%80%99clock.+When+I+got+downtown,+the+place+was+already+on+fire,+and+there+was+a+raid+already.+The+riots+had+already+started.&source=bl&ots=ZXLgGQdf90&sig=ACfU3U1okjsWKzcQQk4czZfJjSKqPSEtcA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTlNGh_6nqAhU4mnIEHbymCuUQ6AEwAHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=I%20was%20uptown%20and%20I%20didn%E2%80%99t%20get%20downtown%20until%20about%20two%20o%E2%80%99clock.%20When%20I%20got%20downtown%2C%20the%20place%20was%20already%20on%20fire%2C%20and%20there%20was%20a%20raid%20already.%20The%20riots%20had%20already%20started.&f=false">Johnson admitted</a> to arriving after the riots had started, and Rivera <a href="https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/riverarisingandstronger.html">explained in an interview</a>:</p>
<p>“I have been given the credit for throwing the first Molotov cocktail by many historians, but I always like to correct it. I threw the second one; I did not throw the first one!”</p>
<p>The most likely scenario does not involve a brick or Molotov cocktail but rather the pleas of <a href="https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/05/27/who-threw-the-first-brick-at-stonewall-uprising-riot-pride/">Storme DeLarverie</a>, a mixed-race lesbian.</p>
<p>While she was being thrown into the back of a police car, she asked her queer brothers and sisters, “Aren’t you going to do something?”</p>
<p>Because of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-why-did-mafia-own-bar/">Mafia ownership</a> and stringent liquor laws, the Stonewall Inn, a popular night spot for the queer community, was an <a href="https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/riots-stonewall.html">easy target for police raids</a> during the 1960s.</p>
<p>At approximately 2 a.m., New York police officers arrived to clear out the bar at its closing time. Initially, most patrons were cooperative, but as harassment and arrests increased, the mostly queer patrons fought back.</p>
<p>Though the details of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/us/first-brick-at-stonewall-lgbtq.html#:%7E:text=The%20gay%20rights%20movement%20was,tactical%20police%20in%20riot%20gear.">the origins of that night</a> remain murky, what is clear is that both Johnson and Rivera were there and would later become anchors of gay rights and queer resistance.</p>
<p>Their protests, as well as the actions of other Black gay people in an earlier and little-known act of defiance, demonstrate how queer women of color were often overlooked but at the forefront of gay liberation. </p>
<p>Despite some social progress, Black transwomen continue to pay the price, sometimes with their lives. </p>
<h2>Misperceptions of the Stonewall Riots</h2>
<p>As a first-generation Black American and gay professor who <a href="https://emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/deion-hawkins">researches the intersection</a> of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9843143/">race and health</a>, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00026/full">HIV</a> and <a href="https://journals.upress.ufl.edu/rhm/article/view/1775">queer activism</a>, I look for ways to better teach queer activism during my <a href="https://professional.emerson.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=1010305&selectedProgramAreaId=1009727&selectedProgramStreamId=1009758">rhetoric of social movements course</a>. </p>
<p>I have learned that the story of Stonewall became popularized when a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGEJmPwB4yI">movie was released</a> in 2015. But the “Stonewall” movie was met with <a href="https://people.com/movies/stonewall-movie-roland-emmerich-and-jeremy-irvine-defend-whitewashing-criticism/">harsh criticism</a> for whitewashing the story and omitting the role of Black and Latina queer people.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A queer Black man is wearing an outfit that has shiny black crystals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534677/original/file-20230628-27-xv7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gay liberation activist Marsha P. Johnson wears a black sequined jumpsuit during a 1982 Pride March.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-gay-liberation-activist-marsha-p-johnson-along-news-photo/1392246163?adppopup=true">Barbara Alper/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the movie, a gay white man throws the first brick, but almost every public account of the night <a href="https://www.them.us/story/who-threw-the-first-brick-at-stonewall">discredits this version</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, it was <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-black-and-brown-activists-who-started-pride/">queer people of color</a>, especially gender nonconforming individuals, who led the charge. These individuals and other examples of queer resistance are often erased and forgotten in popular culture. </p>
<h2>An overlooked act of defiance</h2>
<p>Stonewall was not the first act of public defiance by a gay community.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2018/8/02/dont-let-history-forget-about-comptons-cafeteria-riot">Compton’s Cafeteria riot</a> took place about three years before Stonewall and nearly 3,000 miles away in San Francisco. </p>
<p>Compton’s Cafeteria, located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, was a popular late-night gathering spot in the 1960s for transgender people, particularly transwomen. </p>
<p>But the cafeteria’s management and the police subjected these marginalized communities to harassment and constant mistreatment. Transwomen were often arrested under <a href="https://www.glbthistory.org/newsletter-blog-2020/08-feature">female impersonation laws</a> and faced public humiliation and enduring physical violence. </p>
<p>In August 1966, a pivotal incident at Compton’s Cafeteria sparked the flames of resistance. </p>
<p>The documentary “<a href="https://itvs.org/films/screaming-queens/">Screaming Queens</a>” highlights the injustice faced by the trans community at the time, which was <a href="https://sfstandard.com/arts-culture/trans-history-comptons-cafeteria-riot-transgender-remembrance-day-tenderloin/">mostly women of color</a> engaging in sex work.</p>
<p>After years of enduring mistreatment, a group of transwomen, drag queens and gender-nonconforming individuals decided they had endured enough. </p>
<p>When a police officer attempted to arrest one of the transwomen, she defiantly threw her cup of hot coffee in his face. Within a few moments, patrons overturned a police car. </p>
<p>This act of resistance ignited a spontaneous uprising within the cafeteria and on the streets. By the time it was over, police had arrested dozens of people and beaten countless others.</p>
<p>Although the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/21/stonewall-san-francisco-riot-tenderloin-neighborhood-trans-women">Compton’s Cafeteria riot</a> did not receive the same level of national attention as other events, it had a profound and lasting impact. </p>
<h2>Hate still runs rampant</h2>
<p>Despite these acts of public defiance and growing public acceptance,
transwomen of color repeatedly report higher <a href="https://www.thetaskforce.org/new-analysis-shows-startling-levels-of-discrimination-against-black-transgender-people/">rates of unemployment</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2020.1848691">elevated rates of stigma</a> from health care providers, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/25/981309903/theres-a-backdrop-of-historic-distrust-in-police-to-solve-murders-of-trans-peopl">shattered trust with law enforcement</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0414-trans-HIV.html">disproportionate rates of HIV</a> and other ailments.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A demonstrator holds a sign a that supports Black transsexuals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534682/original/file-20230628-19349-ow06qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A demonstrator takes part in the Queer Liberation March on June 28, 2020, in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-estimated-20-000-demonstrators-take-part-in-the-queer-news-photo/1223412024?adppopup=true">David Dee Delgado/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, the murder of transpeople <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transgender-community-murder-rates-everytown-for-gun-safety-report/">nearly doubled from 29 deaths in 2017 to 56 in 2021</a>, according to the nonprofit <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/remembering-and-honoring-pulse/">Everytown for Gun Safety</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-community-in-2022">The Human Rights Commission</a> notes that Black and Latina transwomen are at the highest risk of violence, with some assailants being able to skirt jail time due to “<a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/gay-trans-panic-press-release/">gay/trans panic defense </a>,” which enables a suspect to blame their violent reaction on the victim’s sexuality.</p>
<p>So far in 2023, the murders of <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2023/03/06/neenah-man-charged-in-milwaukee-homicide-of-cashay-henderson/69975920007/">Cashay Henderson</a>, a Black transwoman and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/arrest-made-killing-koko-da-doll-atlanta-rcna81904">KoKo Da Doll</a>, the lead actor in “Kokomo City,” <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/03/kokomo-city-sundance-berlin-award-winning-documentary-magnolia-pictures-director-d-smith-subjects-daniella-carter-dominque-silver-interviews-1235275833/">a Sundance Award-winning documentary</a>, serve as tragic reminders of the ongoing violence and discrimination targeting queer people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deion Scott Hawkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As violent attacks against gay people continue to increase in the US, Black transwomen face ongoing battles against discrimination in the workplace and over receiving health care.Deion Scott Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2057922023-06-20T16:18:49Z2023-06-20T16:18:49ZThe Good Mothers: Disney’s groundbreaking drama tries to tell the stories of women in the mafia but important pieces of the puzzle are missing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531960/original/file-20230614-19-aaakle.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=107%2C17%2C5883%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney+</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The music accompanying the opening titles of the new Disney+ series The Good Mothers is a lullaby in the Calabrian dialect:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Ninna, ninna, ninna, ninna, neda</em> The wolf eats the little lamb. Little lamb of mine, what did you do when you found yourself in the mouth of the wolf?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is a dark and hidden message from a mother to her child before sleep. It serves as a reminder that the world is a dangerous place and your family are not always the people who will protect you. Sometimes, they are the ones who make it unsafe. </p>
<p>Disney’s latest contribution to the mafia genre, a six-episode TV drama series, is based on a book by British journalist Alex Perry. It’s a welcome and refreshing addition to the debate about the delicate role <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11133-018-9389-8">women play in Italian mafias</a>.</p>
<p>Italian mafias are strange, fascinating organisations. They combine both highly sophisticated, modern criminal activities and money laundering scams with internal traditional values and codes that dictate behaviour to members. </p>
<p>The series deals specifically with the fates of three young mothers in the notorious Calabrian <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/ndrangheta-63937">‘Ndrangheta</a>, a violent mafia that is both deeply embedded in the local community and has international reach. It is made up of more than 160 independent <em>cosche</em>, or clans, that exist across Calabria within a hierarchical structure. Each revolves around families with tight blood ties. </p>
<h2>Women in Italian mafias</h2>
<p>One of the innovative aspects of The Good Mothers is that it is framed as a story of “how feminism was key to bringing down Europe’s most powerful mafia”. And it is indeed an important contribution to our understanding of Italian mafias in part because it is a story about women, which is rare. </p>
<p>It’s incredibly difficult to research the roles women play in criminal groups because there is hardly any information available. When data does exist, it tends to adopt “a male gaze”. Most judicial or police sources are collected by men using their male values and gender assumptions, which colours the depiction of the women involved (and will inevitably pervade the narratives of those who use them).</p>
<p>When investigating mafias, there is a tendency to focus on the male-centric elements of operations – the leadership, the violence and the business. Accounts of women describe them either as victims of crime or as irrelevant extras. </p>
<p>The Good Mothers puts women at the centre of the action. Here is a detailed account of Calabrian mafia women who rebelled against the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KJLBLxYBUysC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=mafia+women+&ots=HtzYnF-TMG&sig=9sXYl7nfZGG1xsZ7XUJVgufM66o&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=mafia%20women&f=false">patriarchal, oppressive and violent mafia system</a> by deciding to collaborate with the state to expose the perverse internal workings of their clans.</p>
<p>For one of the first times in English, we see the traumatic and painful life stories of real women – Lea Garofalo, Giuseppina Pesce and Maria Concetta Cacciola. All were born into but eventually escaped the mafia’s power. </p>
<p>The main theme of their testimonies is the sexism, misogyny and machismo that underpins the ‘Ndrangheta’s patriarchal framework. Gender dynamics, contradictions and power relationships are based on values such as family, honour, omertà (a code of silence), respect, violence and revenge.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5xyZ5Yt-Z2Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Good Mothers trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cacciola’s harrowing story illustrates how the mafia exploited her love for her children to get her to leave the witness protection programme. She then supposedly committed suicide by drinking acid in August 2011, a story no one believes. Her life represents the many dilemmas and difficulties involved in trying to extract oneself from the violent criminal underworld.</p>
<p>Pesce’s brave account adds complexity by underlining the way women in mafias can have agency – sexually, criminally, emotionally and socially. Pesce participated in the criminal activities of her clan, was outspoken and had an affair while her husband was in prison. </p>
<p>The character Anna Colace (who represents the real-life judge Alessandra Cereti) is another heroine. She is the brave anti-mafia prosecutor who takes on the mob by turning members and relatives into state witnesses. Through her investigations, she understands the power of the women in Calabrian <em>cosche</em> and how their desire to rebel can become a strength for the anti-mafia fight. </p>
<h2>The missing mothers</h2>
<p>The Good Mothers is a genuine attempt at explaining to an international audience how these real-life women and mothers sought to break free from the coercive control of the patriarchal Calabrian mafia system. Their decision became a historic moment that forced a change in the thinking around the ‘Ndrangheta. We learned that family structure, mothers and children are key.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, decades on from the events this series depicts, the ‘Ndrangheta is far from dead. Maybe, we are still missing a part of the puzzle. The Good Mothers missed an opportunity to denounce, highlight and analyse the role of Garofalo, Pesce and Cacciola’s own mothers, who endorsed the patriarchal values of the violent mafia system by manipulating these young women and by trying to stop them from rebelling. </p>
<p>This TV series only tells part of the story because it is based on a book that was itself a reconstruction of judicial investigations and interviews. A male gaze therefore remains. </p>
<p>While there are nuances, women are still largely depicted as victims of the mafia male patriarchy. Absent are discussions about the male victims of the ‘Ndrangheta or the powerful and determined matriarchs who <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12117-014-9223-y">reinforce the structures</a> that allow the ‘Ndrangheta <em>cosche</em> to flourish.</p>
<p>In the book and consequently in the TV series, the mafia’s coercive control is too often portrayed as male when to fully understand it, we must also include the other women who remain in the shadows. It is these women who are the foundation of the ‘Ndrangheta and who should not be overlooked. Mafia oppression is not only male but also female. The essence of the ‘Ndrangheta is not only the good mothers but all the mothers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felia Allum was a Leverhulme Major Research Fellow (2018-2022) and received funding from The Leverhulme Trust for a project on 'Women, crime and culture: transnational organised crime as an equal opportunity industry'.</span></em></p>The stories of women who escape the mafia need to be told but we also need to learn more about the women who stay and reinforce the structures of crime families.Felia Allum, Professor of Comparative Organised Crime and Corruption., University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2061012023-05-24T13:42:03Z2023-05-24T13:42:03ZCorruption in South Africa: former CEO’s explosive book exposes how state power utility was destroyed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527785/original/file-20230523-19-yugb19.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">PenguinRandomHouse</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One repeated theme of the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/book/truth-power-my-three-years-inside-eskom/9781776390625#:%7E:text=De%20Ruyter%20candidly%20reflects%20on,to%20speak%20truth%20to%20power">memoir</a> Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom, by Andre de Ruyter, former CEO of South Africa’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-electricity-supply-whats-tripping-the-switch-151331">troubled power utility</a>, Eskom, is that “negligence and carelessness had become cemented into the organisation”. </p>
<p>Dirt piled up at even the newest power stations until it damaged equipment, which stopped working – and some equipment disappeared beneath a layer of ash.</p>
<p>Integrity had been displaced by greed and crime: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Corruption had metastasised to permeate much of the organisation. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a political scientist who has, among other topics, followed corruption and kleptocracy, this book ranks among the more informative.</p>
<p>De Ruyter (or his ghost writer) delivers a pacey, racy adventure <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/book/truth-power-my-three-years-inside-eskom/9781776390625">thriller</a>. Chapter after chapter reads like a horror story about Eskom, whose failure to generate enough electricity consistently for <a href="https://theconversation.com/power-cuts-and-food-safety-how-to-avoid-illness-during-loadshedding-200586">the past 15</a> years has <a href="https://www.investec.com/en_za/focus/economy/sa-s-load-shedding-how-the-sectors-are-being-affected.html">hobbled the economy</a>. </p>
<p>The book is also a sobering indication that parts of South Africa now fester with organised crime.</p>
<p>This book merits its place alongside <a href="https://www.loot.co.za/product/crispian-olver-how-to-steal-a-city/jywy-5080-g730?PPC=Y&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgZaS7pbE3QIVS7DtCh0EGQXfEAAYASAAEgLszPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">How to Steal a City</a> and <a href="https://jacana.co.za/product/how-to-steal-a-country-state-capture-and-hopes-for-the-future-in-south-africa/">How to Steal a Country</a>. These two books chronicle how corruption undermined respectively a city and a country to the level where they became dysfunctional.</p>
<h2>Brazen looting</h2>
<p>Another take-away is the devastating indictment of De Ruyter’s immediate predecessors as CEO, <a href="https://www.eskom.co.za/heritage/matshela-koko/">Matshela Koko</a> and <a href="https://www.eskom.co.za/heritage/brian-molefe/">Brian Molefe</a>. They appear as incompetent managers who ran into the ground what the Financial Times of London had praised as the world’s best state-owned enterprise as recently as 2001. Both <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/live-former-eskom-boss-matshela-koko-arrested-on-corruption-charges-20221027">Koko</a> and <a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/molefe-singh-back-in-palm-ridge-specialised-commercial-crimes-court/">Molefe</a> have been charged with corruption – at Eskom and the transport parastatal Transet, respectively.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explosive-revelations-about-south-africas-power-utility-why-new-electricity-minister-should-heed-the-words-of-former-eskom-ceo-201508">Explosive revelations about South Africa's power utility: why new electricity minister should heed the words of former Eskom CEO</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The standard joke about corruption is “Mr Ten Percent” – meaning a middleman who adds 10% onto the price of everything passing through his hands. Under Koko and Molefe, this had allegedly ballooned into “Mr Ten Thousand Percent”. </p>
<p>For example, De Ruyter writes that Eskom was just stopped in the nick of time from paying a middleman R238,000 for a cleaning mop. </p>
<p>Corruption focused on the procurement chain. One middleman bought knee-pads for R150 (US$7,80) and sold them to Eskom for R80,000 (US$4,200). Another bought a knee-pad for R4,025 (US$209) and sold it to Eskom for R934,950 (US$48,544). The same applied to toilet rolls and rubbish bags. One inevitable consequence of corruption on such a scale was that Eskom’s debt, which was R40 billion (US$2.076 billion) in 2007 (the year that former president Jacob Zuma came to power), ballooned to R483 billion (US$25 billion) by 2020 – which incurred R31 billion (US$160 million) in annual finance charges.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Book cover showing a Caucasian man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527730/original/file-20230523-27-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527730/original/file-20230523-27-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527730/original/file-20230523-27-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527730/original/file-20230523-27-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527730/original/file-20230523-27-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527730/original/file-20230523-27-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527730/original/file-20230523-27-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PenguinRandomHouse</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>De Ruyter reveals that the “presidential” cartel (meaning one of the local mafias) pillaged Matla power station, the “Mesh-Kings” cartel Duvha power station, the “Legendaries” cartel Tutuka power station, and the “Chief” cartel Majuba power station. He writes that the going rate for bribes at Kusile power station is R200,000 (US$10,377) to falsify the delivery of one truckload of good quality coal. <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/special-investigating-unit-secure-another-preservation-order-matter-related-corruption">Kusile</a> is one of the two giant new coal-fired power stations which Eskom is relying on to end power cuts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-bailout-of-eskom-wont-end-power-cuts-splitting-up-the-utility-can-as-other-countries-have-shown-200490">South Africa's bailout of Eskom won't end power cuts: splitting up the utility can, as other countries have shown</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The book says a senior officer at the <a href="https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/index.php">Hawks</a>, the police’s priority crimes investigation units, tipped off De Ruyter how he was blocked in all his attempts to combat corruption at Eskom. Senior police officers, at least one prosecutor, and a senior magistrate, have also been bribed by the gangs. </p>
<h2>Noncomformist</h2>
<p>Eskom had 13 CEOs and acting CEOs in 13 years. Twenty-eight candidates, most of them black, rejected head-hunters’ offers to become CEO of Eskom. De Ruyter who was previously CEO of Nampak, took a pay cut (to R7 million) to accept the job, in the hope of accelerating Eskom’s transition from coal to renewables.</p>
<p>At the time of his appointment some commentators alleged that he was an African National Congress (ANC) cadre deployed to Eskom. The ANC’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321223498_The_African_National_Congress_ANC_and_the_Cadre_Deployment_Policy_in_the_Postapartheid_South_Africa_A_Product_of_Democratic_Centralisation_or_a_Recipe_for_a_Constitutional_Crisis">cadre deployment</a> policy is aimed at ensuring that all the levers of power are in loyal party hands – often regardless of ability and probity. But De Ruyter came <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/anc-claims-de-ruyter-is-trying-to-tarnish-its-image-ahead-of-elections-in-2024-20230426">into conflict</a> with the ruling party.</p>
<p>What caught De Ruyter out was the viciousness of the political attacks on him: smears of racism and financial impropriety. He had to devote many hours of office time to refuting them: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>occupying that seat at Megawatt Park comes with political baggage. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://za.geoview.info/eskom_megawatt_park,32555009w">Megawatt Park</a> is Eskom’s head office in Johannesburg. </p>
<p>The book’s early chapters summarise how he was one of those Afrikaners with Dutch parents, who did not conform entirely to apartheid norms. The Afrikaner <em>volk</em> imposed the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/apartheid">apartheid</a> regime onto South Africa for 42 years. In his high school years he became a card-carrying member of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Progressive-Federal-Party">Progressive Federal Party</a>, a liberal anti-apartheid opposition party, antecedent of the Democratic Alliance, which is now the official opposition to the governing party. </p>
<h2>Poisoning</h2>
<p>De Ruyter’s book mentions organising a routine Eskom stakeholders’ meeting at a guesthouse in Mpumalanga province. </p>
<p>To save time, he ordered that food be served on plates to table places, instead of buffet arrangements. The guesthouse management refused, due to fear of facilitating poisoning one or more guests – only buffet arrangements could thwart that. </p>
<p>He says that in Tshwane (Pretoria), the seat of government, the National Prosecution Authority no longer orders takeaway lunches for delivery to their premises. Instead, standard procedure is that a staff member buys lunches for all at random take-away shops. </p>
<p>This sinister development culminated in De Ruyter himself being poisoned with cyanide in his coffee in his office, demonstrating how mafia-type gangs had recruited at least one Eskom headquarters staff member.</p>
<h2>Unintended consequences</h2>
<p>In several places De Ruyter also touches on other issues. The unintended consequence of some government policies, such as localisation and <a href="https://www.treasury.gov.za/comm_media/press/2022/2022110801%20Media%20Statement%20-%20PPP%20Regulations%202022.pdf">preferential procurement</a>, is that it costs Eskom two and a half times more to pay for each kilometre of transmission cable than it costs <a href="https://www.nampower.com.na/">Nampower</a> Namibia’s power utility, just across the border. </p>
<p>What stands out from this memoir is that the success of a company demands that a CEO, managers, artisans, guards, and cleaners all take the attitude that the buck stops with them – seven days a week – and act accordingly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206101/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Gottschalk is a member of the African National Congress, but writes this review in his professional capacity as a political scientist.</span></em></p>The book shows how parts of South Africa now fester with organised crime.Keith Gottschalk, Political Scientist, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981602023-02-06T14:58:00Z2023-02-06T14:58:00ZLink between crime and politics in South Africa raises concerns about criminal gangs taking over<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507613/original/file-20230201-8719-bz77s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African President Cyril Ramaphosa receives reports of the of the state capture commission from Justice Raymond Zondo. The reports found exposed massive state corruption involving private individuals and companies. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCIS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/GI-TOC-Strategic-Organized-Crime-Risk-Assessment-South-Africa.pdf">report</a> by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (Gitoc) released in September 2022 argues that South Africa has increasingly become a centre of organised crime, transcending national boundaries.</p>
<p>The picture emerging from the report is that there are organised networks inside and outside the state that enable, facilitate and exploit opportunities for private gain. Or, they exercise unfair advantage in economic activity in the public and private sectors, using coercive methods. Some actively go about <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-needs-stronger-security-in-place-to-stop-the-sabotage-of-its-power-supply-187889">sabotaging critical infrastructure</a> to benefit from this.</p>
<p>The areas of public life where criminals exploit or intimidate their way into influence are growing. In recent times grand-scale crime has seeped through to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/mystery-murdered-whistleblower-babita-deokaran-who-uncovered/">healthcare</a>, <a href="https://mg.co.za/opinion/2023-01-13-shooting-at-fort-hare-university-highlights-corruption-at-south-african-universities/">education</a> and <a href="https://www.mining.com/eskom-ceo-de-ruyter-survives-alleged-poisoning-attempt/">parastatals</a>. Speaking out against malfeasance comes at a high price.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/crime-covid-and-climate-change-south-african-tourism-faces-many-threats-but-its-resilient-192505">Crime, COVID and climate change - South African tourism faces many threats, but it’s resilient</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This is apart from the scores of <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-06-27-the-underworld-runs-the-anc-assassinations-analysis-shows-stark-reality-of-violence-in-kzn/">political assassinations of local activists</a> and officials, either for political gain or sheer vengeance against those who dare to call out corruption. </p>
<h2>Mafia state</h2>
<p>There is no doubt that there is a growing ecosystem of organised crime overwhelming the state and public life in the country. And, because political actors or state institutions are so often implicated in it, some commentators are even asking if South Africa is becoming a <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-11-10-00-the-mafia-state-is-in-full-swing/">“mafia state”</a>. </p>
<p>The term “mafia state” refers to the interpenetration of governments and organised crime networks. In his influential 2012 article, <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2012/04/25/mafia-states-pub-47954">Mafia States</a>, Venezuelan journalist and writer Moises Naim said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In a mafia state, high government officials actually become integral players in, if not the leaders of, criminal enterprises, and the defence and promotion of those enterprises’ businesses become official priorities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is no single prototype for when a state can be labelled a mafia state. The concept is best thought of as a spectrum. The most extreme cases involve politicians at the highest levels taking direct control of organised crime operations. Other characteristics are collusion between crime syndicates and powerful political figures, money laundering to hide illicit proceeds, and the use of violence and intimidation to protect those involved.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/GI-TOC-Strategic-Organized-Crime-Risk-Assessment-South-Africa.pdf">Gitoc report</a> shies away from using the label “mafia state” to describe South Africa. What it does make clear is that there is a proliferation of crime networks that involves not just criminal “kingpins” and politically connected individuals but also ordinary people. They become part of this “value chain”, for different historical reasons. But South Africa may be reaching a point where the link between crime and politics is sustained because there are role-players who do not want to see it changing. </p>
<h2>Fighting corruption</h2>
<p>The prevalence of criminal elements within the state does not mean that the whole of the state has become a criminal enterprise. But it is true that many state institutions, have been targeted by criminals, with the collusion of people on the inside.</p>
<p>South Africans are not resigned to the criminalisation of the state, and are actively challenging it. Many of the revelations about fraud, corruption and nepotism come from principled whistle-blowers within state structures. Others come from the relatively free media, and voices in civil society and politics. Some of the malfeasance has been revealed by <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-08-15-the-zondo-report-has-clearly-fingered-the-enablers-of-state-capture-now-its-time-for-reparations/">inquiries initiated by the executive</a> itself. This is the case with the Zondo Commission, which <a href="https://www.statecapture.org.za/">probed state capture</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/using-the-south-african-army-to-fight-crime-is-a-bad-idea-heres-why-85627">Using the South African army to fight crime is a bad idea: here's why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Poor communication strategies make it difficult for ordinary citizens to assess how the state is responding to these challenges. A case in point is the government’s decision to <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/opinions/columnists/mpumelelo_mkhabela/mpumelelo-mkhabela-when-did-eskom-crisis-become-a-national-security-crisis-requiring-the-army-20230111">deploy the military</a> to beef up security at several electricity generation facilities. It remains to be seen whether the deployment will be able to stop the acts of sabotage that the ESKOM senior management claim to be a major factor in the worsening energy crisis. </p>
<p>As with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-lies-behind-social-unrest-in-south-africa-and-what-might-be-done-about-it-166130">July 2021 riots</a>, sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma for contempt of court, there are <a href="https://mg.co.za/news/2022-12-15-gordhan-calls-out-mantashes-bizarre-accusations-applauds-de-ruyters-efforts-at-eskom/">conflicting public pronouncements</a> from cabinet ministers on critical sectors and services affected by crime.</p>
<h2>The political economy of organised crime</h2>
<p>The South African economy has a formal sector (“first economy”) and an informal sector (“second economy”). Economists call this a <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/south-africas-economy-in-5-charts/">dual economy</a>. To this should be added a “third economy” – the illicit economic activities described above, that have seeped into the formal and informal economies. </p>
<p>The overlap between the licit and the illicit economy in South Africa is complex. Even big, multinational companies may also <a href="https://www.pplaaf.org/cases/bain.html">covertly engage in illicit operations</a> in spite of appearances. On the other hand, criminals often exploit vulnerable people where the state has failed to meet basic needs: they offer jobs, opportunities and income, a phenomenon seen not only in South Africa, but <a href="https://www.thebrokeronline.eu/poverty-and-unemployment-encourage-organized-crime-d6/">across the African continent</a>. </p>
<h2>Looking forward</h2>
<p>Part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-needs-stronger-security-in-place-to-stop-the-sabotage-of-its-power-supply-187889">reset</a> South Africa needs to untangle political and crime networks is better policing and security strategies. The state must be able to assert its authority in the interests of the majority, law-abiding citizens who want to live honest lives in a climate of certainty.</p>
<p>If the crime-politics nexus is being deliberately sustained through the collusion of influential actors within the state, then it is going to be much harder to dismantle. </p>
<p>The resources being spent to address crime will be ineffective. The spectre of corrupt, pliable or compromised people in the criminal justice sector will make the future more unstable. Violence and threats against those who stand up against organised crime will become more commonplace. </p>
<p>The reports of the <a href="https://www.statecapture.org.za/site/information/reports">Zondo Commission</a>, the <a href="https://www.siu.org.za/investigation-reports/">Special Investigating Unit</a>, whistle-blower reports, work by <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-investigative-journalists-helped-turn-the-tide-against-corruption-in-south-africa-93434">investigative journalists</a>, research by <a href="https://pari.org.za/betrayal-promise-report/">academics</a>, <a href="https://issafrica.org/research/southern-africa-report/investigating-corruption-in-south-africa-cooperation-or-conflict">think tanks</a> and <a href="https://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/">civil society organisations</a>, all go some way towards showing how the slide towards a criminal state can be halted. The criminal justice system must bring criminals to book, not give way to impunity. </p>
<p>But more important than combating crime is asking the difficult questions about how ordinary people end up involved in organised crime, and why the country’s democracy is becoming <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africans-hold-contradictory-views-about-their-democracy-159647">more polarised</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-kenyans-have-embraced-vigilante-cops-an-ineffective-police-force-is-to-blame-196449">Many Kenyans have embraced vigilante cops – an ineffective police force is to blame</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If the dire <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-is-trapped-again-what-kind-of-leaders-can-set-the-country-free-187704">socio-economic conditions</a> persist, there is every likelihood that organised criminals will continue to exploit the contradictions in society, and organised crime markets will expand. </p>
<p>The stakes are high. Stopping South Africa from becoming a “mafia state” ought to be a priority for everyone. This will become a key issue of concern to voters ahead of the 2024 national general elections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198160/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandy Africa is affiliated with the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Humanities, which partnered with the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GITOC), the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) to launch GITOC's 'Strategic Organised Crime Risk Assessment: South Africa' in September 2022.</span></em></p>South Africans are actively challenging the criminalisation of the state. Many of the revelations about fraud, corruption and nepotism come from principled whistle-blowers within the state.Sandy Africa, Associate Professor, Political Sciences, and Deputy Dean Teaching and Learning (Humanities), University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1983522023-01-27T15:54:49Z2023-01-27T15:54:49ZModern mafia: Italy’s organised crime machine has changed beyond recognition in 30 years<p>The arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro, one of Sicily’s most infamous mafia bosses, has reminded many Italians of the extreme violence he was associated with when operating as a leading figure of Cosa Nostra. </p>
<p>Denaro appears to belong to another time – when the mafia brutally killed at will. And it is indeed true that the period of extreme violence with which he is associated has been confined to the past. But that does not in any way mean Italy’s organised crime groups have disappeared in the 30 years Denaro has been in hiding – they’ve just had a rethink about how they operate.</p>
<p>The Italian mafia has drastically reduced the number of homicides it carries out. Violence is now used in a much more strategic and less visible way. Rather than bloody and conspicuous murders, the modern mafia intimidates with crimes that are less likely to be reported to the police – such as arson and physical assault or sending threats. Murder is now a last resort. </p>
<p>The violent conflict between the Sicilian mafia and the Italian state reached its climax in the early 1990s. This was a period characterised by massacre after massacre, including the notorious bombing on <a href="https://www.unionesarda.it/en/italy/thirty-years-ago-the-via-d39-amelio-massacre-but-borsellino39-s-brother-invokes-silence-avzmokq9">Via D'Amelio in 1992</a> that killed magistrate Paolo Borsellino and five members of his entourage. In 1991 alone, there were 1,916 homicides – 718 of which were of a mafia nature.</p>
<p>The media covered every twist and turn. Politicians spoke in parliament about the scourge of organised crime. Mafia activity occupied a significant place in Italy’s public discourse and cultural imagination. </p>
<p>The authorities reacted with force. New laws were enacted, such as the “41-bis” prison regime, which included the threat of solitary confinement for members of organised crime gangs. A local municipality could be stripped of its powers for up to two years if local officials were thought to be working with the mafia, and a nationally appointed <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12237">technocratic administration</a> installed to clean house. A national anti-mafia directorate was also created so that more resources could be dedicated to the fight against organised crime.</p>
<p>In the years that followed, <a href="https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/277932#:%7E:text=Nel%202021%20gli%20omicidi%20risultano,diminuiti%20nel%202020%20(170)">data</a> shows a radical decrease in the number of mafia-related homicides, from 718 in 1991 to just 28 in 2019. In 2020, there were 271 homicides in Italy, compared with almost 2,000 in 1991. With 0.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, Italy now has the fewest homicides in Europe after Iceland and Slovenia – fewer homicides per capita than Norway, Switzerland or Luxembourg.</p>
<p>At the same time, an interesting trend can be identified. In ongoing research, I’ve been analysing the archive of RAI (Italian National Television) over the past 40 years and studying the content of national and regional news bulletins. It’s clear that in years with more mafia homicides, media coverage related to the mafia increases, measured by the percentage of news on the mafia topic.</p>
<p>Conversely, when mafia homicides decrease, the topic is talked about less and there are fewer interventions in parliament. For example, between 1992 and 1994, organised crime was cited in 15% of speeches by parliamentarians. Within 20 years it was being mentioned in just 4.3% of speeches.</p>
<p>In other words, the more the mafia openly kills, the more attention it attracts from the media and politicians. It’s important to note that these are not necessarily years in which the mafia has been any less active in other ways. The smuggling, racketeering and corruption continues unabated. Only the most noticeable violence is in retreat. </p>
<h2>Unreported and unnoticed</h2>
<p>All of this suggests that the decrease in the number of homicides could, at least in part, be a strategic choice. Criminals have worked out what they need to do to fly under the radar and be left to their own devices. </p>
<p>This does not mean that violence is no longer used – it is simply more targeted. As reported every year by the anti-mafia charity <a href="https://www.avvisopubblico.it/home/home/cosa-facciamo/pubblicazioni/amministratori-sotto-tiro/">Avviso Pubblico</a>, local administrators are now the main targets of the mafia. They are sent threatening letters and are treated with aggression in person at a rate of about one incident per day. This phenomenon goes almost unnoticed by the media, which would surely pay attention were a member of the national parliament face intimidation or violence. At best, local officials might see their experiences reported in the local press; it’s rare for such incidents to be reported on at a national level. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/matteo-messina-denaro-arrest-of-mafia-boss-after-30-years-on-the-run-is-the-end-of-an-era-but-not-the-end-of-the-cosa-nostra-197940">Matteo Messina Denaro: arrest of mafia boss after 30 years on the run is the end of an era – but not the end of the Cosa Nostra</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The mafia thereby neatly achieves its goal of influencing local politics without attracting media and political attention. Election periods are particularly delicate: mayors are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272717301251">subject to the most threats at these times</a>, particularly in the period immediately after taking office, as local criminals see an opportunity to take control of the newcomer. </p>
<p>This strategy has facilitated the mafia’s economic expansion. While the number of murders has declined, the number of properties and businesses seized from the mafia has ballooned – again suggesting that a drop in violent crime is not necessarily an indicator of a drop in other types of criminal activity. In 1991, the state seized two companies and four properties from the mafia. In 2019, <a href="https://aziendeconfiscate.camcom.gov.it/odacWeb/home">351 companies and 651 properties</a> were seized.</p>
<p>These figures could be read as indicating that law enforcement is doing a better job of identifying economic crime, and that could indeed be the case. But other data lends weight to the more pessimistic interpretation of the facts.</p>
<p>In 2019, assets relating to organised criminals were seized in 11 Italian provinces (largely in the northern regions) that had never previously experienced mafia activity. And today, each police operation related to organised crime leads to <a href="https://direzioneinvestigativaantimafia.interno.gov.it/statistiche/">seizures of about €1 million</a> (£880,000). At the end of the 1990s, the average value was about €50,000.</p>
<p>This suggests that far from being in retreat, the mafia is expanding into new areas of the country, and finding more lucrative opportunities as it goes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198352/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gianmarco Daniele does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Organised crime gangs appear to have realised that committing fewer murders enables them to fly under the radar more easily.Gianmarco Daniele, Assistant Professor at University of Milan and Executive Director of the CLEAN Unit on the economics of crime at Bocconi University, Bocconi UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1979402023-01-17T18:34:04Z2023-01-17T18:34:04ZMatteo Messina Denaro: arrest of mafia boss after 30 years on the run is the end of an era – but not the end of the Cosa Nostra<p>Matteo Messina Denaro, one of the leaders of the Sicilian mafia, the Cosa Nostra, has finally been detained after 30 years on the run. His arrest came as around 100 police officers surrounded the private Maddalena clinic in Palermo where they had discovered he was receiving treatment. </p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/matteo-messina-denaro-arrest-of-mafia-boss-after-30-years-on-the-run-is-the-end-of-an-era-but-not-the-end-of-the-cosa-nostra-197940&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Rumours had been rife for weeks that Denaro was ill and having chemotherapy – but it came as a surprise to the public that Italy’s most wanted man was having treatment in a Palermo clinic alongside ordinary citizens. He was in the queue for tests when a police officer approached him to ask him who he was. An associate standing with him made a run for it but he came forward and simply answered “I am Matteo Messina Denaro”. </p>
<p>Investigators <a href="https://www.unionesarda.it/en/italy/matteo-messina-denaro-the-press-conference-of-the-carabinieri-n3gg04a6">explained at their press conference</a> that it was his need for healthcare that finally enabled them to identify him and move in. </p>
<p>Denaro’s arrest on January 16 came exactly 30 years and one day after the arrest of his mentor, the boss, Toto “the Beast” Riina. It seems significant that after three decades on the run, this was the date the state finally managed to catch up with him. It may indicate that the internal dynamics of Cosa Nostra are changing and that someone had decided to give him up because he was no longer considered “useful”.</p>
<p>Denaro is the last boss who knows all the secrets surrounding Cosa Nostra’s terrorist attacks on the state of the early 1990s. Were he to talk, he could provide essential pieces to the post-war Mafia puzzle. This is very unlikely, however, so anyone hoping for closure or the truth may well be disappointed.</p>
<p>His arrest is also a worrying reminder for authorities about the current state of play. His is the last known face of Cosa Nostra’s leadership. Investigators know less about what current leaders look like and will now be fighting with one hand tied behind their back as they look for other mafia suspects.</p>
<h2>A bridge between the old and new school</h2>
<p>Denaro was the last of the old generation mafia bosses. He represents the final link between the <a href="https://euobserver.com/rule-of-law/155016">belligerent and overt Cosa Nostra</a> of the early 1990s and the silent, business-like mafia of the 21st century. He was born into a mafia family and was known for his violence but he also moved in the “right” circles for progressing his career. </p>
<p>He is the last mafia boss who associated with the Corleone generation, a group of mafiosi (led by Riina and Bernardo Provenzano) that essentially conducted out-and-out war on the Italian state in the early 1990s. The conflict caused numerous violent deaths such as of judges <a href="https://brill.com/display/book/9789004281943/B9789004281943-s044.xml">Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino</a> and of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 12-year-old <a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/giuseppe-di-matteo">son of a turncoat</a>, who was kidnapped, strangled and dissolved in acid to force his father to backtrack on his collaboration with the state. </p>
<p>Considered to be less conservative than traditional and older leaders, Denaro was flashier and more modern. He was able to direct the Cosa Nostra from 2007 until his arrest by infiltrating the legitimate economy through front companies. While Riina adopted a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mobster-salvatore-riina-helped-motivate-a-fightback-against-the-mafia-87876">terrorist strategy towards the state</a>, Denaro’s mafia brand encapsulates the 21st century: it is based on a mixture of violence, illegal activities, social solidarity (providing jobs and justice to local communities), silence and anonymity. Solid business and political contacts are also crucial, especially the capacity to reinvest “dirty money” into the legitimate economy. </p>
<p>In recent years, it has even been suggested that Denaro was investing in innovative and forward-looking businesses (such as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/4/3/italy-seizes-mafia-tied-clean-energy-assets">wind and solar energy companies</a>). All this is abetted by a <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/facilitating-the-italian-mafia-the-grey-zone-of-complicity-and-co-2">large network of enablers and facilitators</a> who have protected Denaro for the past 30 years. These are often likely to be people with no criminal record of their own, so are less traceable by the authorities. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/married-to-the-mob-what-the-lives-of-two-camorra-women-tell-us-about-how-to-challenge-the-power-of-the-mafia-193924">Married to the mob: what the lives of two Camorra women tell us about how to challenge the power of the mafia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The existence of such trusted support networks within Denaro’s mafia is a crucial issue for the authorities. It shows still the existence of a layer of <em>omertà</em> – silence – that protected him. This arrest is a clear victory for the Italian state, but it must be asked why it took so long to find Denaro in Sicily. His protective circle has evidently been hard to break down. </p>
<p>The police have slowly been able to remove these layers of accomplices which made him vulnerable – but it has taken time. The Italian police has come to rely on both traditional monitoring and more modern digital and telephone intercepts when investigating mafia networks. These eventually proved successful.</p>
<h2>The end of Cosa Nostra – or a new era?</h2>
<p>Denaro’s arrest could well produce a power vacuum that throws the Cosa Nostra into crisis – but this is not the end of the mafia. The fall of Denaro might even create an opportunity for it to mutate once again, change and adapt to new business opportunities, like a snake changes its skin. I believe that this arrest marks a change of the guard for the leadership of Cosa Nostra. It may be that Denaro was no longer relevant or needed. Maybe, he had even outlived his usefulness. A new generation will already be in place managing Cosa Nostra.</p>
<p>Many people may now declare Cosa Nostra dead. Clearly, it is not as healthy as Italy’s other main organised crime gangs – the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13532944.2011.554805?tab=permissions&scroll=top">Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/mafia-in-naples-is-still-going-strong-and-we-must-not-forget-how-it-affects-everyday-life-in-the-city-120177">Neapolitan Camorra</a>, both of which are thriving – but it is far from a lost cause. Even after Denaro’s downfall, the Cosa Nostra continues to function, permeating the Italian economy and the economies of plenty of other European nations. Therefore, the Italian state and European countries must relentlessly continue their fight against mafias and organised crime groups and never let their guard down.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felia Allum does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The mafia boss is the last known face of the Cosa Nostra crime syndicate. But his capture represents the end of an era, not the end of the mafia in Sicily.Felia Allum, Professor of comparative organised crime and corruption., University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1939242022-12-12T16:26:50Z2022-12-12T16:26:50ZMarried to the mob: what the lives of two Camorra women tell us about how to challenge the power of the mafia<blockquote>
<p>I told the judge: “Dottore, I’m on the first floor. If they want to retaliate again, they know where to find me … All the lives they’ve taken from me – they took my brother, they took my husband. I don’t think there’s anything else.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lucia has had a harsh life. A petite and elegant 80-year-old woman with piercing brown eyes that are starting to fail and a melancholic smile, she lives on her own in a middle-class neighbourhood of Naples near the Maradona stadium. Lucia may look like your typical well-kept Neapolitan grandmother, but there is much more to her than meets the eye.</p>
<p>She was born during the second world war into what would become one of Naples’ more powerful criminal families, the only girl between two boys. Her father, like many men in the immediate post-war period, got involved in any business opportunity going to make money and survive. She denies that he was ever a <em>mafioso</em>, saying he was only ever looking out for others – but this is how he is described in most newspaper articles, police and judicial reports.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, Lucia had a prime view of the Neapolitan underworld and its devastating violence. Her younger brother was an emerging Camorra member specialising in relationships with corrupt businessmen and judges. Her husband, a car dealer, secretly collaborated with his brother, an international drug trafficker and significant criminal figure. On paper these were respectable businessmen, but in reality they were important <em>camorristi</em> – members of a key Camorra city clan.</p>
<p>Then, in the early ‘90s, both Lucia’s husband and younger brother were killed in mafia hits. She cries during our interview, which is conducted online because of COVID restrictions, especially when she talks about her brother’s murder. Lucia explains that she has had to bottle up her emotions ever since:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ll confess this to you: I have experienced great pain, great fear and great suffering. This is my whole life.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Life imprisonment</h2>
<p>It is said that you can only be born into a criminal family – otherwise you will always be an "outsider”. While this is true of Lucia, Teresa was a complete outsider to the criminal underworld as a child. One of nine siblings, her mother was a housewife and her father worked for the municipal dairy:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My father was hard-working and my mother raised us with love and care … [They] taught us good values, to respect everyone. My father always played with us children.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet like Lucia, Teresa also became a Camorra wife. This proud great-grandmother, now 68, first met her husband Giuseppe in 1968 at the age of 14. He would go on to become a <em>capo zona</em> (neighbourhood boss) for the Camorra, but in 1990 was sent to prison for life with a minimum tariff of 30 years.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>When I last interviewed Teresa in July 2022, she was very angry with Giuseppe, who is now back home on conditional release. She feels she has wasted her life supporting the Camorra and a man who has spent most of his adult life in prison.</p>
<p>Teresa says she used to love spending time in her tiny-but-cosy flat in a working-class district near the busy Neapolitan waterfront. But over the two years that Giuseppe has been back with her, she has become scared and spends a lot of time walking around the city to avoid being at home alone with him:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I did so much for him and he answers: “No one asked you to.” I spent my life and money on him and he replies: “But I made you live the good life.” It is hell – he loves no one. He has become the devil.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Hiding in the shadows</h2>
<p>There is another important character in this story: Naples. I am married to a Neapolitan and have a love-hate relationship with Italy’s third largest city.</p>
<p>When you walk around Naples, you don’t necessarily feel or see the Camorra. Rarely do you witness its business dealings or its beatings. It prefers to hide in the shadows, but there are small traces that become visible if you know what to look for.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499980/original/file-20221209-29206-4pofku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="aerial view of city" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499980/original/file-20221209-29206-4pofku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499980/original/file-20221209-29206-4pofku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499980/original/file-20221209-29206-4pofku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499980/original/file-20221209-29206-4pofku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499980/original/file-20221209-29206-4pofku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499980/original/file-20221209-29206-4pofku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499980/original/file-20221209-29206-4pofku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The city of Naples with Mount Vesuvius in the background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Felia Allum</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Walk down a street in the <a href="https://www.naplespass.eu/info-and-tips/attractions-art-and-culture/what-to-see-in-the-spanish-neighborhood-quartieri-spagnoli">Spanish quarter</a>, for example, and if you are not a local a whistle may sound to warn Camorra colleagues that an unidentified person is walking in their direction. The criminal activities and individuals disappear in a second, whether to avoid possible rivals or a police bust.</p>
<p>One lunchtime walking home, I caught a glimpse of two youngsters on a moped carrying an enormous Kalashnikov rifle as they drove up and down the streets controlling the territory. Everyone looked at the floor and the tension was palpable, but they passed without incident. Normality was restored.</p>
<p>The Camorra protects its territory but it also wants to make people feel safe and gain their respect. My brother-in-law, when he lived in the city centre, once went into a bar for a coffee and in a flash, a young man had stolen his wallet. Everyone in the cafe looked confused – how could this happen to a local? Within five minutes, the wallet was back in my brother-in-law’s hands – with the understanding that he would not go to the police. </p>
<p>Let’s not forget that the Camorra looks out for its local community. It makes good business sense to guarantee peace and social consensus.</p>
<h2>A more complete picture</h2>
<p>Over the past 20 years, I have sought out the <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/women-doing-it-for-themselves-or-standing-in-for-their-men-women-">stories</a> of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11133-018-9389-8">women who orbit the Neapolitan criminal underworld</a>. I believe sharing their voices can help build a more complete picture of organised crime to complement the city’s judicial overview. Above all, I hope it can help us understand how to counter the mafia’s deeply harmful grip on communities all over Naples and beyond.</p>
<p>Women have traditionally been ignored and considered irrelevant in the story of the Camorra and other Italian mafias, and indeed <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003146568/graphic-narratives-organised-crime-gender-power-europe-felia-allum-anna-mitchell">in most organised crime groups around the world</a>. In 2006, the Neapolitan Camorra was made famous by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/16/my-life-in-the-mafias-shadow-italys-most-hunted-author-robert-saviano">Roberto Saviano’s accounts</a>: he documented its members, structures, activities and links to politics. He even illustrated some of its female protagonists, but they were always presented as the exception rather than the rule.</p>
<p>In contrast to the rural Sicilian and Calabrian mafias, the Camorra has deep roots within the city of Naples. The <a href="https://direzioneinvestigativaantimafia.interno.gov.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Relazione_Sem_II_2021-1.pdf">Anti-mafia Investigation Directorate</a> (DIA) estimates there are 44 active clans in the city and a further 98 across the rest of the Campania region. In 2021 alone, they were <a href="https://www.anteprima24.it/napoli/omicidi-napoli-2021-primati/">reported</a> to have been involved in 26 murders and 65 attempted murders.</p>
<p>While many get distracted by the “<a href="http://www.lejournalinternational.info/en/les-baby-gangs-la-jeunesse-mafieuse/">baby gang</a>” phenomenon – groups of children and teenagers forming their own criminal gangs in Naples – Camorra clans remain <a href="https://theconversation.com/mafia-in-naples-is-still-going-strong-and-we-must-not-forget-how-it-affects-everyday-life-in-the-city-120177">heavily involved</a> in extortion, drugs and counterfeit goods. They have become savvy about social media and the potential for new business opportunities such as online fraud. Whenever necessary, they have the ear of both local and national officials.</p>
<h2>Falling in love</h2>
<p>Both Lucia and Teresa admit they fell for the wrong men. But they were not coerced or forced, despite how it might appear from the outside. Both describe complex relationships that were at once loving, coercive, inconsistent and contradictory. Of course, they weren’t only married to their husbands but the mob too.</p>
<p>Despite Teresa’s love affair with Giuseppe as a teenager, he married another girl who had told him she was pregnant. Once he realised she was not, he came looking for Teresa again. But because he was now married, they had to run away together as their strict parents could not accept this irregular relationship.</p>
<p>The couple found a small basement flat in a nearby district and had their first child in 1974. After that Teresa’s parents could not keep away. They turned up at the hospital and peace was restored when they met their new granddaughter.</p>
<p>Lucia’s romance was more turbulent. Her future husband kidnapped her in 1959 when she was 17 because he “had a sick love” for her, but feared her father would never approve of him. Lucia defends his subsequent violence and jealousy towards her by arguing that “I was still a child for him – so I had to stay that way”.</p>
<p>After two years, they returned to Naples and in time Lucia’s father accepted the relationship – but it was an agitated marriage. Lucia says she only fell in love with her husband once she had her first child:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I never went to complain to my father or my brothers, not least because they would say: “At the end of the day, you wanted him.” But at that age, how could I know? I wanted him as I couldn’t get close to any other man after being with him.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many people imagine mafia women either to be male-like leaders or unimportant bystanders. Lucia and Teresa are neither of these caricatures. Their marriages and the families that grew out of them spawned love, trust and loyalty. They were in partnerships against the common enemy, the Italian state. Family relationships were transformed into criminal ventures. It seemed to me that Lucia knew and accepted what she was getting into – and Teresa says the same:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yes, I started to understand many things. I understood, but by now we were too involved. When you get into this thing, you can’t get out afterwards – you don’t leave.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Invisible ghosts</h2>
<p>Italian mafias are always portrayed as male-centred criminal organisations, whether in films and TV series, academic and newspaper articles, legal judgments or police reports. Women, if present at all, are purely representatives of the men, <a href="https://theconversation.com/mcmafias-passive-women-simply-arent-credible-91268">with no independent agency</a>.</p>
<p>By failing to challenge this “master” narrative, women’s criminal activities are overlooked and the fight against mafias is weakened. Women are an integral part of these groups with their own agency and their own criminal knowledge and capacity for violence.</p>
<p>My studies show that women often bear joint responsibility for the planning of criminal activities, but this remains hidden within the informal world of the household. In this private space, they participate, advise and organise. They are not coerced or forced; they are aware, knowledgeable and involved. Without these women, the criminal structures would find it difficult to survive.</p>
<p>So why are the majority of them “invisible ghosts” to us? Judicial records and police reports tend not to pick up the involvement of women because it is often behind closed doors, discreet and unpaid and therefore invisible. While much of Italian civil society reinforces patriarchal values that diminish the role and value of women, family life is a negotiated space where women can predominate. The same is true in Italian mafia families, where women – especially mothers and wives – can become equals to their men in the criminal underworld.</p>
<p>Over the course of our conversations, Lucia and Teresa highlight how living in a criminal space is not a black-and-white affair, as described in fiction or academic books. They show me that behind every successful male mafioso, there is likely to be a strong woman. But this doesn’t mean they are free of regrets.</p>
<h2>A family slain</h2>
<p>Lucia does not directly acknowledge the criminal activities of her husband or younger brother. She accepts that her husband did some loan sharking and that he went to prison for four years for his activities. But she is vague about the details because she was also part of this family business. Her husband put one of his companies under her name in order to hide their illegal profits, for which she went on the run and eventually spent time in prison in 1981. She never makes it clear why – she just did time for the family business.</p>
<p>Lucia’s son, who I have also interviewed and is not involved with the Camorra, acknowledges his mother’s apparent duplicity – of knowing but not wanting to know, of being involved without wanting to. Lucia says she always had a sense of how things would play out – first when her father was shot (but not killed) in 1980, then when her younger brother and husband were assassinated a decade later.</p>
<p>Her father was punished by her brother-in-law after he had supposedly “behaved improperly” towards Lucia’s sister-in-law, exposing a deep internal rift in this Camorra clan. Lucia told her husband that she knew who had ordered her father’s shooting but was not believed – probably because she was a woman. </p>
<p>While she maintains that her younger brother was “an honourable man”, to anti-mafia prosecutors he was a key member of the dominant Camorra alliance in the late 1980s, involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activities. He too was murdered, in 1991, apparently because his associates suspected he was a police informer. </p>
<p>Lucia recalls that her brother’s killer was someone he knew, whom he had taken in and looked after. She likens this Camorra execution to “being kissed and then shot in the back” – and says it “crucified” her:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I raised him – and when he died it was my great pain. We cried together when we were children because daddy wasn’t around, so he was like a son as well as a brother to me. That was my first big pain – my biggest pain.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Almost unimaginably, two years later Lucia’s husband was murdered because his brother, a top mafia boss, had decided to collaborate with the state. Her husband was offered state protection (as all relatives of informers are) but he refused point-blank; it is believed he was murdered as a form of indirect revenge.</p>
<p>After her husband’s murder, Lucia was also offered state protection but she too refused. There was simply nothing left for her to lose:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>All the lives they’ve taken from me – they took my brother, they took my husband. I don’t think there’s anything else … I experienced great pain, great fear and great suffering.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499850/original/file-20221208-9377-9fo5k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Giant mural on two apartment buildings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499850/original/file-20221208-9377-9fo5k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499850/original/file-20221208-9377-9fo5k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499850/original/file-20221208-9377-9fo5k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499850/original/file-20221208-9377-9fo5k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499850/original/file-20221208-9377-9fo5k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499850/original/file-20221208-9377-9fo5k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499850/original/file-20221208-9377-9fo5k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Che Guevara depicted in Naples’ San Giovanni a Teduccio neighbourhood, known as ‘the Bronx’, which has its own Camorra issues.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Felia Allum</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Breaking from the Camorra</h2>
<p>As <em>capo zona</em>, the boss of their local neighbourhood, Teresa’s husband Giuseppe was much respected and admired by his local community. She explains “they loved him” because he brought calm and was a “reference point” people could turn to in times of hardship:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>From the beginning, I realised my husband was with these people … I would ask him: 'But what are you doing? What kind of people are they?’ And he would say to me: ‘Teresa, let’s say it’s a life …’ By then he had it in his blood. The truth is they make you persist because they show you the money … They even bought my husband a car. He was starting to dress smartly – and I had everything.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teresa was fully aware of her husband’s activities and supported and helped him. He would explain everything to her and they usually agreed. She never pretended not to know. But she admits:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We got ourselves into a mess, me and him. Not a small one. There was no turning back then. I spent my nights in bed waiting for him to come back home, with the fear that they would kill or arrest him. Those were terrible nights.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 1990, Teresa’s husband was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for being the leader of a violent group of <em>camorristi</em>. Teresa went from being a “Lady Camorra”, living the good life, to a Camorra widow, visiting her husband in different prisons across Italy while dealing with his lawyer.</p>
<p>Her husband chose not to negotiate with the state, which would have given him a leaner sentence. He frequently told Teresa not to wait for him, saying: “Leave me because I wasn’t a good husband.” But Teresa swore she would stick by him, as did the clan. She explains how the Camorra tried to buy their loyalty and silence:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[The clan] came in and hired a lawyer, and they gave me 100,000-150,000 Italian lira [then about £400-£600] a week. This is the way the clan keeps members loyal … It is very difficult to say no when they offer this financial help – but in time we did.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Two years into her husband’s prison sentence, Teresa decided to break free from the Camorra, its control and its power. She recalls how one day they came to her door and she said she no longer wanted their money. She would look after herself and her five children alone because she “didn’t want them to go down the same path”. She got a job working in a local market where, she says: “People were scared of me because I was the local boss’s wife.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Life got even more difficult – I had to scrape together money so that my husband had money in prison, and to raise my children and for house expenses. My life was bad – you don’t know what it was like. You can’t even imagine.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teresa grew very depressed, lost a lot of weight and turned to the local nuns for help. They looked after her and gave her a job. Over the 30 years of Giuseppe’s imprisonment, she slowly rebuilt her life, waiting for the day her husband would be released. Eventually he was allowed to take a job outside the prison three days a week. But, says Teresa, life remained “complicated”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500000/original/file-20221209-33110-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman walking away down narrow street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500000/original/file-20221209-33110-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500000/original/file-20221209-33110-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500000/original/file-20221209-33110-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500000/original/file-20221209-33110-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500000/original/file-20221209-33110-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500000/original/file-20221209-33110-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500000/original/file-20221209-33110-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman walks alone through the narrow streets of Naples.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-walking-alone-under-acient-arch-74400820">Giuseppe Parisi/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A wasted life?</h2>
<p>Teresa acknowledges that the clan system in Naples entraps people. Since breaking free of the Camorra’s grip, she has had to work hard to ensure her children did not get sucked in – but she has been successful. Her five kids all have regular jobs: one works in a bakery, one owns a small restaurant, two are looking for work after COVID made them redundant, and another has moved to the north of Italy to work in a hospital. Above all, she says, they are happy people.</p>
<p>Lucia, now a widow for almost 30 years, has also focused on getting her children as far as possible away from a life of crime. According to her son, even though they are now out of the clan system, the local bosses still treat Lucia and the rest of her family with respect and admiration – her surname alone still produces reverence in others.</p>
<p>Being born into the Camorra has probably made it more difficult for Lucia to question and fully escape its grip. On top of all the killings, she has survived cancer too. After we speak for some time, she admits to feeling enormous pain and sadness as she reflects on her life, then says: “But this is my whole life – I have lived everything.”</p>
<p>Teresa, in contrast, says she regrets “everything”, having wasted her life on the wrong man and his choices. After 30 years in prison, he came out two years ago. Teresa had to sign the paperwork to be his guarantor on the outside, but her dream of living a comfortable old age with the man of her life has not quite worked out.</p>
<p>Giuseppe is still under licence – he has limited freedoms and must spend most of his time at home, with the police doing house visits to check on him at antisocial hours. Prison has had a huge impact: he is depressed and traumatised, and this in turn affects everyone around him. </p>
<p>Teresa describes him as “a monster living in her house”. She worries that Giuseppe is destroying everything she has built with her five children while he was in prison – in particular, a loving family atmosphere. She does not know what the future looks like, but is seriously considering her options as her love and soul have been destroyed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500001/original/file-20221209-34972-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wall of human skeletons" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500001/original/file-20221209-34972-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500001/original/file-20221209-34972-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500001/original/file-20221209-34972-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500001/original/file-20221209-34972-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500001/original/file-20221209-34972-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500001/original/file-20221209-34972-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500001/original/file-20221209-34972-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Surrounded by death: skeletons in Naples’ famous Fontanelle cemetery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/skeletons-famous-naples-italy-cemetery-fontanelle-1925252858">Desert Bee/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The role of women in organised crime</h2>
<p>Listening to these women’s accounts of their lives within the Neapolitan underworld shows how much more nuanced organised crime is than the way it is depicted on screen.</p>
<p>Lucia and Teresa are anything but weak and incapable. They have lived full lives as women, wives, mothers and sisters at the heart of the city’s underworld. They navigated this criminal space: it was not a glamorous life but a question of surviving – avoiding rival clans’ bullets and the handcuffs of the police and anti-mafia investigators.</p>
<p>The plurality of these women’s roles and responsibilities is fundamental to the way the Camorra functions. Without their emotional, physical and financial support, their husbands would not have made successful careers within the mob.</p>
<p>Women may not formally join a mafia as “made” members during an official affiliation ritual, but this doesn’t mean they only have irrelevant walk-on parts. Women may not make the drug deals or coordinate the transportation, but they aren’t oblivious of what they are carrying in their car or bag, or how their bank accounts are being used. However unsavoury, their long-time criminal involvement demands greater recognition and understanding.</p>
<p>Whether looking at women in Italian mafias or female members of British criminal gangs, we need to review our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12117-014-9223-y">understanding of women in crime groups</a> by listening to their voices and experiences. Only then can we get near a complete picture of their roles in the continued success and growth of organised crime. Perhaps in this sense, we are all part of the mafia problem.</p>
<p><em>Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of interviewees</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/online-safety-what-young-people-really-think-about-social-media-big-tech-regulation-and-adults-overreacting-196003?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Online safety: what young people really think about social media, big tech regulation and adults ‘overreacting’
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-so-many-men-get-away-with-rape-police-officers-survivors-lawyers-and-prosecutors-on-the-scandal-that-shames-the-justice-system-192782?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Why do so many men get away with rape? Police officers, survivors, lawyers and prosecutors on the scandal that shames the justice system</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/qatars-death-row-and-the-invisible-migrant-workforce-deemed-unworthy-of-due-process-191017?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Qatar’s death row and the invisible migrant workforce deemed unworthy of due process
</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felia Allum received funding from The Leverhulme Trust (2018-2022: MRF-2017-075) for her research on women in organised crime groups. She is co-author of Graphic Narratives of Organised Crime, Gender and Power in Europe, Routledge, May 2022)</span></em></p>In contrast to their depiction in most mafia films, women are an integral part of these groups with their own criminal knowledge and capacity for violenceFelia Allum, Professor of comparative organised crime and corruption., University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1848352022-06-21T03:06:38Z2022-06-21T03:06:38ZA flurry of attention, then collective forgetfulness – 100 years of the ‘ndrangheta Calabrian mafia in Australia<p>In a recent media release, Australian Federal Police <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-target-italian-organised-crime-and-money-laundering-year-operation">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have about 51 Italian organised crime clans in Australia. We have identified 14 confirmed ‘ndrangheta clans across Australia, involving thousands of members.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The ‘ndrangheta, widely considered Italy’s wealthiest and most powerful <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-32585-9">mafia</a> group, are connected with Calabria, a region in southern Italy. They have important international links with – and are sometimes in a superior position to – local groups, such as bikies.</p>
<p>A flurry of recent reporting and police comment on the 'ndrangheta may give the impression their activity in Australia is a relatively new phenomenon. </p>
<p>But in truth, the ‘ndrangheta has been successfully planting seeds into Australian society for 100 years. It is integrated into Australian society; it’s not an alien guest or recent virus. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-ndrangheta-and-why-its-time-to-bust-some-myths-about-the-calabrian-mafia-54075">Meet the ’Ndrangheta – and why it's time to bust some myths about the Calabrian mafia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A long history</h2>
<p>The recent AFP <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-target-italian-organised-crime-and-money-laundering-year-operation">statement</a> was celebrating first anniversary of “the overt action taken under Operation Ironside, the biggest and most significant organised crime operation” in AFP history. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-most-significant-police-operation-in-australian-history-how-it-worked-and-what-it-means-for-organised-crime-162342">Operation Ironside</a> – otherwise known as operation <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-an-app-to-decrypt-criminal-messages-was-born-over-a-few-beers-with-the-fbi-162343">AN0M</a> or <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/fbi-s-encrypted-phone-platform-infiltrated-hundreds-criminal-syndicates-result-massive">Trojan Horse</a> in the United States – involved a joint action between the FBI and the AFP that took place on June 8 last year.</p>
<p>According to the AFP <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-target-italian-organised-crime-and-money-laundering-year-operation">statement</a>, “globally, excluding Australian statistics, more than 700 alleged offenders have been charged”, thanks to Ironside. In Australia, it said, 383 alleged offenders have been charged with 2,340 offences.</p>
<p>The recent anniversary of this joint action led to a spike in media reports about the ‘ndrangheta in Australia, with AFP Assistant Commissioner Nigel Ryan quoted as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/07/thousands-of-italian-mafia-operating-in-australia-federal-police-say">saying</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s entirely possible that people will be living next door to members of the ‘ndrangheta without knowing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I thought it was notable the AFP’s press release <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-target-italian-organised-crime-and-money-laundering-year-operation">mentioned</a> 51 Italian crime groups, of which only 14 are recognised ‘ndrangheta clans; this begs the question of who are the remaining groups.</p>
<p>The AFP’s <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-target-italian-organised-crime-and-money-laundering-year-operation">statement</a> didn’t specify, and focused chiefly on the ‘ndrangheta.</p>
<p>As someone who has researched the ‘ndrangheta for a decade – and specifically the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/26338076211040604">Australian ‘ndrangheta</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0004865814554305">since 2014</a> – I didn’t think there was much urgent or new in the recent “revelations” tied to the anniversary of the Ironside arrests. </p>
<p>The ‘ndrangheta – also known as “the honoured society” – has operated in Australia in a structured way for at least <a href="https://www.icsaicstoria.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The_Ndrangheta_Down_Under_Constructing_t.pdf">a century</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1535183543457853441"}"></div></p>
<h2>The ‘ndrangheta in Australia</h2>
<p>The criminal organisation even has <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/26338076211040604">an Australian “birthday”</a>: December 18, 1922 when the ship King of Italy docked at the Western Australian port of Fremantle, then in Adelaide and then in Melbourne. It left in each of these ports one of the three founders of the ‘ndrangheta.</p>
<p>The ‘ndrangheta has capitalised on Calabrian/Italian <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-italy/article/abs/undesirable-italians-prolegomena-for-a-history-of-the-calabrian-ndrangheta-in-australia/1492FB4203669F0497AC21722140B29C">migration</a> to Australia to grow and entrench its power in <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-78873-9">Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Australian institutions were quicker than their Italian counterparts to <a href="https://www.icsaicstoria.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The_Ndrangheta_Down_Under_Constructing_t.pdf">recognise the specificities</a> of the ‘ndrangheta between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s. At this time, Italian authorities were largely focused on the more famous Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia.</p>
<p>Australia’s approach to countering <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0004865816652367">the ‘ndrangheta in Australia</a> tends to swing between <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-53568-5">visibility and forgetfulness</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-calabrian-mafia-in-australia-is-so-little-recognised-and-understood-50914">sensationalism and denialism</a>. As investigative reporter Nick McKenzie, put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The history of the AFP’s policing of Italian organised crime in this country is marked by widely spruiked success, rarely mentioned failure and extended periods of malaise.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As his <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/often-studied-rarely-prosecuted-how-the-mafia-gets-away-with-it-in-australia-20220609-p5asjj.html">report noted</a>, in the past 20 years alone Australian law enforcement has produced maps of ‘ndrangheta families and confidential reports about its members and activities. </p>
<h2>Drugs, political infiltration and power</h2>
<p>Much media and police focus has been on ‘ndrangheta and the drug trade (Operation Ironside is, so far, no exception).</p>
<p>Yes, the drug trade is fundamental to ‘ndrangheta wealth and power in Australia and has been for <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/worlds-biggest-ecstasy-bust-how-a-google-search-foiled-aussie-tomato-tin-mafias-drug-plots/news-story/0db0ce6a9d6d61706420b975484ba7ea">many years</a>.</p>
<p>However, as outlined in my recent book, <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/chasing-the-mafia">Chasing the Mafia</a> and by investigative <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-06/calabrian-mafia-continues-flourish-despite-police-operations/6596192">reporters</a>, there is a world of political infiltration, too. Legal businesses have been born on the back of proceeds of crime, and powerful men who have a say in the Calabrian/Italian community.</p>
<p>This is less talked out, partly due to fear and intimidation but also due to consensus, friendships, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0004865818782573?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.1">exploitation of ethnic solidarity</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1533995154742583296"}"></div></p>
<p>The ‘ndrangheta is deeply integrated into Australian society; it is a phenomenon with <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0004865818782573?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.1">many heads</a>.</p>
<p>As such, it needs a strategy that does not stop at countering drugs importation but considers, for example, the social impact of this mafia on society and the <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-48145-2">transcultural identity of Italian migrants in contemporary Australia</a>.</p>
<p>When it comes to the ‘ndrangheta in Australia, the combined knowledge of the AFP, the NSW police and the Victorian police is unparalleled. Much of this knowledge is, of course, left out of official statements. These statements have arguably one good effect: they raise the level of attention yet again.</p>
<p>But any attempt to take the ‘ndrangheta seriously requires sustained political will and resources. Swinging between a flurry of attention on the ‘ndrangheta and collective forgetfulness of the issue does not help.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mafia-and-corruption-scandals-rocked-italian-football-and-left-fans-with-a-crisis-of-faith-118136">How mafia and corruption scandals rocked Italian football and left fans with a crisis of faith</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184835/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Sergi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A flurry of recent reporting on the ‘ndrangheta may give the impression their activity in Australia is relatively new. In truth, the ‘ndrangheta has been in Australian society for a century.Anna Sergi, Professor in Criminology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1818222022-05-02T12:37:03Z2022-05-02T12:37:03ZThe photographer who fought the Sicilian Mafia for five decades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460558/original/file-20220429-19-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C31%2C4256%2C2790&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Through her photographs and activism, Letizia Battaglia sought to wrest Palermo from the grip of the Mafia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italian-photographer-letizia-battaglia-attends-a-meeting-news-photo/1124222166?adppopup=true">Laura Lezza/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/04/16/letizia-battaglia-photography-mafia-dead/">passed away on April 13, 2022</a>, the biggest shock among <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9780802095619/mafia-and-outlaw-stories-from-italian-life-and-literature/">those of us who have written about her</a> was that she didn’t die at the hands of the Mafia. </p>
<p>For nearly five decades she fearlessly fought the criminal enterprise. Armed with her 35mm camera, she publicized the Sicilian Mafia’s reign of terror with her photographs of the bullet-riddled bodies of public servants, innocent bystanders and mafiosi. She later worked as a politician and local activist to wrest Palermo’s streets and piazzas from the Mafia’s grip.</p>
<h2>Exposing the Mafia’s culture of death</h2>
<p>Battaglia earned international acclaim for her photographs of Sicily – images that captured the island’s beauty, poverty, spirit and, perhaps most famously, violence. </p>
<p>Her first years working as a photojournalist at Palermo’s daily newspaper, L’Ora, coincided with the <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9780802095619/mafia-and-outlaw-stories-from-italian-life-and-literature/">first Mafia murders of public figures in the 1970s</a> and the years of the Second Mafia War in the 1980s, which was simply known as “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520236097/reversible-destiny">the slaughter</a>.” </p>
<p>The struggle over power and profits pitted <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/brutal-past-sicilian-mafia-town-21572555">the rural clan of Corleone</a>, led by Salvatore Riina, against key clans operating in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. During the conflict, machine gun fire and car bomb explosions became commonplace in Palermo and outlying cities.</p>
<p>The politicians in Rome responded to the national crisis by asking <a href="https://www.theflorentine.net/2009/05/21/carlo-alberto-dalla-chiesa/">General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa</a> to become the prefect of Palermo. After spending four months restoring order, Dalla Chiesa, his wife, Emanuela Setti Carraro, and police bodyguard Domenico Russo were murdered in a spray of machine-gun fire on September 3, 1982 – what became known as the <a href="https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780679768630">Via Carini Massacre</a>. Dalla Chiesa’s death, along with hits on police chiefs, public prosecutors and investigators, left honest citizens feeling hopeless and abandoned. </p>
<p>Some days Battaglia would rush from one city to another to photograph several dead bodies – of mafiosi, judges, police, political figures and journalists – “<a href="https://utorontopress.com/9780802095619/mafia-and-outlaw-stories-from-italian-life-and-literature/">so much blood</a>,” she later recalled. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1518217962280292353"}"></div></p>
<p>Mafia murders became so commonplace – <a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seconda_guerra_di_mafia">some 600 between 1981 and 1983</a> alone – that she sometimes came upon crime scenes by chance. </p>
<p>Such was the case with her <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2022/04/14/letizia-battaglia-quando-racconto-di-aver-fotografato-lomicidio-mattarella-per-caso-e-sullo-scoop-su-andreotti-disse-non-sapevo-di-avere-quello-scatto/6559715/">famous photograph of the corpse of Piersanti Mattarella</a>, the former president of the Region of Sicily. On Jan. 6, 1980, while riding in the car with her daughter and fellow photojournalist <a href="https://www.magnumconsortium.net/people/ZEF">Franco Zecchin</a>, Battaglia saw a small group of people gathering around a car. She spontaneously snapped shots from the car window, capturing <a href="https://www.quirinale.it/page/en-biografia">Sergio Mattarella</a>, the current President of Italy, as he attempted to help his brother, who had been shot in an ambush.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1517824621009063937"}"></div></p>
<h2>The Palermo Spring</h2>
<p>Battaglia’s photographs of Mafia violence were published regularly on the front page of L’Ora. She also displayed large format prints of them at pop-up exhibits that she and Zecchin organized in downtown Palermo and local schools. </p>
<p>In doing so, she forced people to face what they had disavowed: that the Mafia existed, and that it killed.</p>
<p>Of course, most Sicilians had been aware of the crime organization’s influence. They watched the public parks become overrun by drug dealers, and tiptoed around used syringes dotting the sandy beaches. Some <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-italy/article/abs/determinants-of-and-barriers-to-critical-consumption-a-study-of-addiopizzo/E48A0F95FB2A6A39E638627E8BE0C318">80% of Palermo businesses</a> regularly paid the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXgYzD8cupY">pizzo</a>,” or money demanded by the Mafia to protect businesses from the Mafia’s own violence. </p>
<p>But Battaglia’s <a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/letizia-battaglia-mafia-photos">images of bloodshed</a> made it impossible to continue turning a blind eye, and a shift gradually occurred. </p>
<p>Beginning in 1983, an anti-Mafia pool of prosecutors and uncompromised police officers started arresting numerous Mafia members. Over 450 of them were eventually put on trial in the famous <a href="https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780679768630">Maxi-trial</a>, which began in 1986. </p>
<p>With public confidence in the justice system bolstered, a social, cultural and political revolution took place between 1985 and 1990. Everyday people and new members of the city council started directly confronting the Mafia and working to loosen its grip on the region. It became known as the “Palermo Spring,” and Battaglia was a driving force behind it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Group of people marching holding a white banner." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460564/original/file-20220429-14592-o6x2gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460564/original/file-20220429-14592-o6x2gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460564/original/file-20220429-14592-o6x2gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460564/original/file-20220429-14592-o6x2gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460564/original/file-20220429-14592-o6x2gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460564/original/file-20220429-14592-o6x2gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460564/original/file-20220429-14592-o6x2gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters in Palermo carry a banner reading ‘Expel the Mafia from institutions.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/out-of-the-mafia-from-institutions-demonstration-from-news-photo/1277571723?adppopup=true">Marka/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1985, she was elected as a <a href="https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/7426769">council member</a>. Together with the mayor, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fighting_the_Mafia_and_Renewing_Sicilian/rkhaSYinjWYC?hl=en">Leoluca Orlando</a>, who appointed her Commissioner for Gardens and Public Life, Battaglia worked to stop the Mafia’s decadeslong sacking of Palermo. Mafia leaders and their political allies had let schools, historic palazzos and gardens fall into disrepair, with the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Fighting_the_Mafia_and_Renewing_Sicilian.html?id=rkhaSYinjWYC">intent of eventually razing the downtown neighborhoods</a> and making windfall profits in reconstruction. </p>
<p>Battaglia was driven by the conviction that providing all citizens free access to spectacular gardens, parks, beaches and historical sites was essential for creating a culture of respect and appreciation for Palermo and its heritage. Through her projects to make Palermo more beautiful and livable, Battaglia reclaimed Mafia-controlled spaces block by block. She worked with fellow members of the city council on undertakings such as removing abandoned cars, creating a downtown pedestrian mall and restoring public gardens to their original beauty.</p>
<p>On streets and in piazzas controlled by clan bosses, where a glance or wrong word can represent an offense worthy of violent retaliation, Battaglia’s acts directly challenged the bosses. But public support soon coalesced behind Battaglia and her allies.</p>
<p>One instance is especially memorable. After having mountains of garbage hauled away from the beach near Foro Italica near the Kalsa neighborhood, which was famous for its high concentration of powerful mafiosi, she had some benches for enjoying the view bolted into the cement. The next day they were gone. </p>
<p>Journalist <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2022/04/14/letizia-battaglia-e-le-panchine-che-infastidivano-i-mafiosi-fu-la-sua-piccola-rivoluzione-alla-kalsa/6559755/">Antonio Roccuzzo was with Battaglia</a>. He recalled how she went straight to the neighborhood and shouted, “I know who you are. The benches don’t belong to you. They belong to everyone. If all of you don’t put them back within the hour, I’m going to raise hell!”</p>
<p>An hour later, the benches were bolted back in place.</p>
<h2>Keeping an invisible Mafia in the public eye</h2>
<p>In 1992 and 1993, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/13/world/italy-accuses-18-in-1992-slaying-of-anti-mafia-prosecutor-in-sicily.html">series of bombings</a> took the lives of Judges Giovanni Falcone, renowned architect of the Maxi-trial; Francesca Morvillo, a prosecutor in the juvenile court of Palermo and his wife; and Paolo Borsellino, who had worked closely with Falcone and investigated his murder. Bodyguards and bystanders in Sicily, Rome, Milan and Florence also perished. </p>
<p>With these bombings, known as the “strategy of massacres,” the Mafia attacked the state’s symbols of justice, government, finance and culture. Their goal was to intimidate politicians into <a href="https://www.antimafiaduemila.com/libri/1517-il-patto-sporco.html">weakening laws against organized crime</a>. </p>
<p>However, the violence elicited even more public backlash, and the criminal organization soon adopted the strategy of going underground and quietly carrying on its diversified criminal activities. This shift marked a departure from spectacular bombings, brazen assassinations and shootouts in city streets. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460566/original/file-20220429-11-narlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman poses in front of a framed black and white photograph." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460566/original/file-20220429-11-narlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460566/original/file-20220429-11-narlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460566/original/file-20220429-11-narlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460566/original/file-20220429-11-narlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460566/original/file-20220429-11-narlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460566/original/file-20220429-11-narlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460566/original/file-20220429-11-narlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Letizia Battaglia poses in front of one of her photographs in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italian-photographer-letizia-battaglia-poses-in-front-of-news-photo/609480454?adppopup=true">Eric Cabanis/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet the menace of the Mafia still remains. Their murder victims now die mostly by “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.legalmed.2014.12.008">lupara bianca</a>” – with any trace of their bodies destroyed by fire or acid. </p>
<p>In the absence of visible evidence, Battaglia’s shots documenting Mafia bloodshed and bereavement continue doing the work of keeping the ramifications of Mafia violence in the public eye. </p>
<p>These painful images have also become vehicles for expressing hope. In a project Battaglia began in 2004, known as “Rielaborazioni” – or “Re-elaborations” – she takes the original images of violent deaths and overlays symbols and signs of renewal, often through vibrant female figures. In her reconfiguration of her <a href="https://www.lanuovasardegna.it/image/contentid/policy:1.13640536:1571039346/image/image.jpg?f=taglio_full2&h=605&w=1280&$p$f$h$w=013c4c3">iconic picture of Falcone</a> at Dalla Chiesa’s funeral in 1982, <a href="https://www.societadelleletterate.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Rielaborazione-2009.jpg">a youthful woman appears in the foreground</a>, bathed in water spraying from a fountain.</p>
<p>In death, as in life, Battaglia’s impassioned commitment to create beauty and hope in her beloved Palermo survives. You can see it on the streets of a city reborn, and on the faces of its honest, well-meaning citizens.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Pickering-Iazzi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Letizia Battaglia’s images of Mafia bloodshed made it impossible for people to turn a blind eye to the criminal outfit’s reign of terror.Robin Pickering-Iazzi, Professor of French, Italian and Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1777692022-03-11T14:28:07Z2022-03-11T14:28:07ZThe Godfather at 50: celebrating the mob saga that raised the bar for gangster films<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450047/original/file-20220304-19-1kees6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C1985%2C1997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Godfather starred Marlon Brando in his most iconic role.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/palu-city-indonesia-august-22th-2020-1800429997">Zero05Ard/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s one of the most famous climactic scenes in film: a tense and shocking denouement that sees a series of brutal assassinations intercut with the central character calmly renouncing Satan as he becomes godfather to his nephew.</p>
<p>Considered one of the great classics of American cinema, the triple Oscar-winning <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/feb/23/the-godfather-review-a-brutal-sweep-of-magnificent-storytelling">Godfather</a> turns 50 on March 14. A bold piece of storytelling, the film reinvented the gangster epic, setting a high bar for all the mafia movies that followed in its wake. It also secured legions of fans obsessed by the murky underworld of the mob.</p>
<p>Admirers of the saga are expressing their devotion in myriad Facebook groups and YouTube channels. Explanatory videos chart major plot developments, provide “<a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqwlqyi66C8">10 lessons from The Godfather</a> everyone needs to know” or offer sage advice about never revealing your hand when you’re in a negotiation.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UaVTIH8mujA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Paramount Pictures is commemorating the 1972 premiere of The Godfather with a series of new releases, building a sense of occasion for a film described as a “<a href="https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2019/06/14913/">towering masterwork</a>”. Beginning with a rare theatrical run and ending in April with a 10-part biographical drama about the making of the first film, Paramount is treating the films as landmark studio heritage.</p>
<p>Remastered DVDs, an accompanying coffee table book and a new interview with <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000338/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm">director Francis Ford Coppola</a> further cement the film’s status as lucrative cultural capital. Given that the studio purchased the rights to Mario Puzo’s bestselling novel for $12,500, it is fair to say that Paramount has enjoyed one of the most spectacular returns on investment in motion picture history.</p>
<h2>Crime and family</h2>
<p>The film revolutionised the portrayal of organised crime by conflating it with something all audiences can relate to: family. This one is a strong ethnic unit that, as film reviewer Todd Gitlins noted, ran counter to the “bleached American television family” of the early 1970s. Like many other reviewers, Gitlin felt that the appeal of the film was largely due to the fact that it provided “<a href="https://cinefiles.bampfa.berkeley.edu/catalog/51817">prime national nostalgia</a>” for an idealised version of the past.</p>
<p>The starkness of composer Nino Rota’s unforgettable trumpet solo signals a movement into a world where villains have values. Film critic Pauline Kael described Marlon Brando’s Don Vito as a “<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1972/03/18/the-current-cinema-24">primitive sacred monster</a>” who approved of gambling but felt prostitution and drug running were “infamia” – vile deeds and morally wrong.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/--SXPEUTDkw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The Godfather trilogy continues to resonate with fans long after its original release. Coppola’s epic crime saga would do for Italian gangsters what the great Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein – director of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015648/">Battleship Potemkin</a> – did for Russian revolutionaries: lend the story a gravitas and epic grandeur that belied the brutality of the power struggles involved.</p>
<p>In her book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1879930.The_Annotated_Godfather">The Annotated Godfather</a>, film writer Jenny M Jones describes the climactic baptism murders scene as a homage to Eisenstein’s iconic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sEPFd-1Dm8">Odessa steps sequence</a> from Battleship Potemkin – widely regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century cinema. Coppola crafted an operatic denouement, crosscutting between the calm of the church and the violence of the executions with deliberate nods to Eisenstein’s celebrated montage sequence, staging the action on steps and stairs throughout.</p>
<p>Involving simultaneous action across multiple locations – church, spa, suburbia, barbershop, hotel, courthouse – and boldly introducing minor and major players in the unfolding action, it is remarkable for its scope and scale. Each of the assassins is revealed in the build up to each execution: one is making heavy work of a flight of stairs while two prepare their guns and another has a professional shave.</p>
<p>The crosscutting lends a complexity to the action that pivots on Michael Corleone, played memorably by Al Pacino, performing the rites of baptism: far from rejecting Satan, Michael is embracing the evils of gangster life. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1CDlBLvc3YE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Creating a classic</h2>
<p>The aftermath scenes further showcase Coppola’s great skill as a filmmaker. Although not as thrilling as the denouement, these scenes are emotionally satisfying and foreshadow the reverse moral trajectory of the sequel, The Godfather Part II. </p>
<p>Having stood godfather to his sister’s child, Michael enters his brother-in-law Carlo’s house to confront him over his part in the murder of Michael’s older brother Sonny: “You have to answer for Santino”. Carlo is too stupid to realise that his fate is sealed and he is garroted in the front seat of a car to complete Michael’s revenge. His thrashing death throes shatter the car windscreen on the driveway, providing a subtle visual reminder of Sonny’s bullet-ridden car at the tollbooth where he was ambushed by rivals.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ppjyB2MpxBU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Novelist and cultural commentator <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/20/umberto-eco-obituary">Umberto Eco</a> stipulated that a cult film must offer a “fully furnished world” that fans can return to again and again.</p>
<p>The forthcoming theatrical release of The Godfather trilogy provides an opportunity for fans to experience this cinema classic again on the big screen as part of a collective audience. There is something oddly comforting about slipping into this shady, familiar world of loyalty and revenge. A world of men and guns and pasta sauce. A world where the best veal in the city is served with a bullet in the throat.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gill Jamieson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Considered one of the greatest films of all time, Francis Ford Coppola’s sweeping epic is back on the big screen for its big birthday.Gill Jamieson, Senior Lecturer in Film, Television & Cultural Studies, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1385922020-05-15T09:46:21Z2020-05-15T09:46:21ZCoronavirus: crime cartels helping communities will extract a high price in years to come<p>The citizens of Iguala in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, <a href="http://wradio.com.mx/radio/2020/04/28/nacional/1588094431_942427.html">encountered several billboards</a> hanging on different sites recently. They read: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>People of Iguala, we ask you to please stay inside your home, we do not want chaos outside. You have to respect the lockdown, we will seriously hurt those who we catch outside. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This wasn’t the work of some over-zealous local government official. The messages were put up by the local narco cartel. This was not an isolated case: criminal gangs have also been imposing curfews in other Mexican states and <a href="https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2020/03/23/coronavirus-traficantes-e-milicianos-impoem-toque-de-recolher-em-comunidades-do-rio.ghtml">Brazil</a> and <a href="http://alexpresents.com/2020/04/14/taliban-ms-13-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-join-coronavirus-fight/">El Salvador</a>.</p>
<h2>States within states</h2>
<p>During the coronavirus pandemic, governments have undoubtedly been the lead actors in imposing restrictions on their populations while financially supporting individuals and firms for lost income. But in numerous countries, governments have very limited capacity <a href="http://ideas.repec.org/s/spr/ecogov.html">or have</a> to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3840506?seq=1">live with</a> mafia-type organisations. These groups differ from standard criminal operations because they act like a state within a state. </p>
<p>As researchers Gianluca Fiorentini and Sam Pelzman <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/economics-of-organised-crime/632CA5713D3BAACB30F830D2C2B1F15F">wrote in 1995</a> of these groups, they “perform inside [their] territory those activities that typically characterise a collective decision-maker’s intervention on the economy: levying of taxes, coercive provision of public goods, and regulation of private agents through non-fiscal tools”. Little has changed since. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/el-chapo-is-no-robin-hood-but-social-bandit-myth-still-endures-in-latin-america-137207">El Chapo is no Robin Hood – but social bandit myth still endures in Latin America</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Mafia outfits <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GI-TOC-Crime-and-Contagion-The-impact-of-a-pandemic-on-organized-crime.pdf">have lost profits</a> in many of their <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/covid/Covid-19-and-drug-supply-chain-Mai2020.pdf">core businesses</a> during the pandemic, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-coronavirus-is-changing-the-market-for-illegal-drugs-134753">drug dealing</a>, human trafficking and <a href="http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/turning-adversity-into-advantage-how-organised-crime-is-responding-to-covid-19/">gambling</a>. But they still have plenty of money from previous years’ activities to be able to step in with support.
Besides imposing curfews, they have been providing various public services. These vary hugely around the world, but there are some common trends. </p>
<p>For one thing, these oranisations have been providing free food and other essential goods to poor people who are running out of cash. A few weeks into the Italian lockdown, for example, this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/10/mafia-distributes-food-to-italys-struggling-residents">was happening</a> in Naples and Palermo. </p>
<p>In Naples, the local <em>camorra</em> crime gang has <a href="https://napoli.fanpage.it/spese-domicilio-camorra-napoli/">even been</a> making home food deliveries to people along with illegal drugs. This comes as no surprise in a region where the state was slow to provide help even to those who are entitled to such benefits, never mind the unentitled millions <a href="https://www.istat.it/it/files/2020/01/Conti-economici-territoriali.pdf">who earn</a> a living in everything from agricultural labour to domestic work but are not tax-registered. Criminal groups in southern Italy have <a href="https://elpais.com/sociedad/2020-04-18/la-mafia-es-inmune-al-virus.html">also been providing</a> financial help to individuals, with gifts of sometimes €300 or €400 at a time (£266 to £354). </p>
<p>In Mexico, the criminal cartels <a href="https://www.cide.edu/coronavirus/2020/04/27/covid-19-despensas-y-narco/">have also been</a> providing food to the poorest in the states of Guerrero, Michoacán, Tamaulipas and Guanajuato. They seem to take marketing more seriously than their Italian counterparts. The Gulf cartel of north-east Mexico, for example, <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2020-04-17/el-narco-mexicano-aprovecha-el-virus-para-exhibir-su-poder-ante-las-camaras.html">has been</a> handing out boxes of food and hand sanitiser sealed with a sticker bearing its name and logo. Meanwhile, such has been the shortage of health supplies in parts of Mexico that some hospitals have <a href="https://www.eldinamo.com/actualidad/2020/04/21/coronavirus-mexico-hospitales-piden-ayuda-a-bandas-de-narcotrafico-ante-escasez-de-insumo-sanitarios/">even been</a> seeking the help of the cartels to procure the necessary equipment. </p>
<p><strong>Central Mexico</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335009/original/file-20200514-77255-ah66ag.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335009/original/file-20200514-77255-ah66ag.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335009/original/file-20200514-77255-ah66ag.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335009/original/file-20200514-77255-ah66ag.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335009/original/file-20200514-77255-ah66ag.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335009/original/file-20200514-77255-ah66ag.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335009/original/file-20200514-77255-ah66ag.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335009/original/file-20200514-77255-ah66ag.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps/search/mexico/@22.1787212,-104.5559057,6z">Google Maps</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Organised crime groups have also been delivering essential goods in Colombia, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/south-africa-coronavirus-lockdown-gangs-cape-town-a9474101.html">South Africa</a> and Japan. In Japan, for instance, the <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/coronavirus/japanese-gangs-vie-for-power-amid-pandemic"><em>yakuza</em></a> distributed masks and toilet paper when they were scarce in supermarkets. </p>
<p>In Brazil, at a time when President Jair Bolsonaro has been underplaying the severity of the pandemic, gangs have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/apr/21/bolsonaro-wont-help-with-coronavirus-so-brazils-favelas-helping-themselves-video">reportedly been</a> offering hand sanitiser to people in the <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-favelas-of-brazil.html"><em>favelas</em></a>. Such groups can easily access these goods by exploiting their business networks and trafficking routes.</p>
<h2>Business backing</h2>
<p>Criminal groups are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/why-mafia-taking-care-of-everyones-business-in-pandemic">also providing</a> financial help to struggling local businesses. <a href="https://www.agi.it/cronaca/news/2020-03-31/coronavirus-usura-ndrangheta-gratteri-8033085/">One example</a> is the <em>‘ndrangheta</em>, the strongest mafia group in Italy, which is offering loans at interest rates lower than the local banks. These loans are primarily aimed at the likes of small businesses in construction and hospitality, who can’t access credit from banks but urgently need liquidity. The <em>‘ndrangheta</em> and similar groups have <a href="https://www.interpol.int/Crimes/Organized-crime">plenty of funds</a> to make available. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335050/original/file-20200514-77230-18vwwz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335050/original/file-20200514-77230-18vwwz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335050/original/file-20200514-77230-18vwwz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335050/original/file-20200514-77230-18vwwz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335050/original/file-20200514-77230-18vwwz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335050/original/file-20200514-77230-18vwwz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335050/original/file-20200514-77230-18vwwz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335050/original/file-20200514-77230-18vwwz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Italy’s criminal groups have being making home deliveries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/banner-reading-basta-mafia-stop-on-1296625459">christianthiel.net</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mexican criminal groups are also giving out loans to <a href="http://www.omnia.com.mx/noticia/141244">small businesses</a>. No doubt the coronavirus <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/es/2020/04/30/espanol/opinion/crisis-economica-mexico-coronavirus.html">response from</a> President López Obrador is an added incentive: he <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b91c4ac7-76ad-4c1e-bbb5-2caebe148feb">has been refusing</a> to borrow to provide a stimulus package, while continuing the country’s austerity drive – despite protests from many Mexicans.</p>
<p>Yet support can work both ways. The huge amount of money that some governments are injecting into the economy will provide optimal opportunities for fraudulent business claims and the like. The <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/25/europe/mafia-bosses-italy-coronavirus-trnd/index.html">sight of</a> mafia bosses in Italy being released from jail to protect them from coronavirus is only going to help these groups to take advantage. </p>
<p>Without a doubt, the help that mafia-type organisations are offering to households and firms will come at a high cost for many countries. The criminals are <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/04/27/mexican-cartels-are-providing-covid-19-assistance-why-thats-not-surprising/">trying to</a> gain political capital and extend control over their territory. When the crisis is over, they will ask for favours in return, such as money laundering or protection from the police. And a higher unemployment rate will tempt more people to join their ranks to secure stable earnings. </p>
<p>For the time being, the governments of countries where these mafias operate must not only deal with the coronavirus but limit the advancement of these groups at the same time. This is an additional important reason for supporting the general public at this difficult time, even if there may be no perfect solution to groups that have been entrenched for many years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138592/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matteo Pazzona does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many governments can’t afford to offer the sort of economic stimulus we’ve seen in the west, and organised crime is only too happy to fill the gap.Matteo Pazzona, Lecturer, Brunel University LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1214812020-01-31T14:09:34Z2020-01-31T14:09:34ZWhy Italian cinema is starting to glamorize the mafia<p>For almost a century, American filmmakers <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AdGhDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=mafia+movies+a+reader+second+edition&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikp9bTuerlAhVFIKwKHbIiByEQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=mafia%20movies%20a%20reader%20second%20edition&f=false">have glamorized the Mafia</a>, depicting their ranks as so charismatic and quick-witted that you might want to invite them over for dinner.</p>
<p>Audiences saw this most recently in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302006/">The Irishman</a>,” which reunites a star cast of the usual suspects – Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci – but also in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141842/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Sopranos</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0979432/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Boardwalk Empire</a>.” </p>
<p>The Mafia’s glamorized sheen in America’s collective conscience might be due to the fact that the Mafia never attained much power in the U.S. Compared with Italy, fewer lives have been lost and fewer businesses destroyed by the organized crime syndicate. Today many see the Mafia as a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AdGhDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=mafia+movies+a+reader&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDgePj6annAhUBG80KHZWNBtYQ6AEwAHoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=mafia%20movies%20a%20reader&f=false">relic of the past</a>.</p>
<p>Not so in Italy, where <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42794848">mafias remain as powerful and dangerous as ever</a>. Their menace has been reflected in Italian films and television series, which have long cast mobsters in a negative light. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=v3yifXkAAAAJ&hl=en">But as someone who studies media depictions of the Mafia</a>, I’ve noticed a shift: Italian films and TV shows have started to glorify criminality, crafting and portraying mafiosos as alluring antiheroes.</p>
<h2>In Italy, a break from tradition</h2>
<p>It’s long been common practice in Hollywood to cast conventionally attractive actors as sympathetic criminal antiheroes. Humphrey Bogart in “King of the Underworld,” Al Pacino in “The Godfather” trilogy and Denzel Washington in “American Gangster” are just a few examples.</p>
<p>However, this practice is a relatively new phenomenon in Italy.</p>
<p>In Italian films from the 1960s and 1970s, Italian gangsters were depicted as shady and charmless. </p>
<p>In the popular Italian Mafia biopics of the 1990s and 2000s, which included titles like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/find?q=the+hundred+steps&ref_=nv_sr_sm">One Hundred Steps</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258883/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Placido Rizzotto</a>,” they appeared as vicious, repulsive villains.</p>
<p>But that started to change in the 21st century. In 2005, director Michele Placido released “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Romanzo Criminale</a>,” a film about the Roman Mafia that featured a cast of young, attractive mobsters.</p>
<p>More recently, good-looking, sympathetic criminals abound in the TV series “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2049116/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Gomorrah</a>,” while slick, teenaged gangsters populate Claudio Giovannesi’s 2019 film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740778/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Piranhas</a>.” </p>
<h2>A controversial portrayal</h2>
<p>Marco Bellocchio’s most recent film, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7736478/?ref_=ttrel_rel_tt">The Traitor</a>,” epitomizes this trend. Set to be released in the U.S. on Jan. 31, it was also Italy’s submission for Best International Feature Film in the Academy Awards.</p>
<p>At its center is an ex-mobster named Tommaso Buscetta, played by the attractive <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190816-are-mafia-dramas-getting-too-close-for-comfort?fbclid=IwAR06XOJwKmZOGEW_nYBPtpGv7tthhCRC473hegPoiBeedurbUFLF5rRdW0M">Pierfrancesco Favino</a>, sometimes known as “the Italian George Clooney.” </p>
<p>The film tells the true story of Buscetta, who shared vital information about the inner workings of the Mafia with Italian authorities in the early 1980s. His revelations sparked the “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Antimafia.html?id=Sf3MCwAAQBAJ">maxi trials</a>,” which ended in 1987 and led to 342 convictions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312161/original/file-20200127-81403-1df6tqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312161/original/file-20200127-81403-1df6tqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312161/original/file-20200127-81403-1df6tqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312161/original/file-20200127-81403-1df6tqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312161/original/file-20200127-81403-1df6tqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312161/original/file-20200127-81403-1df6tqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312161/original/file-20200127-81403-1df6tqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Italian mafioso Tommaso Buscetta, left, in handcuffs during the 1974 ‘Trial of the 114.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italian-mafioso-tommaso-buscetta-in-handcuffs-at-the-trial-news-photo/186168876?adppopup=true">Photo by Enzo Brai/Mondadori via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Buscetta, however, is viewed with suspicion by many Italians. To this day, his motivations for turning over evidence to the state are cloaked in mystery. In Italy, he’s hardly viewed as an ambassador for the anti-Mafia cause. Nonetheless, “The Traitor” turns him into an alluring antihero. </p>
<p>For these reasons, some Italians <a href="https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/spettacolo/speciale-festival-di-cannes-2019/-il-traditore-polemica-social-sull-uscita-del-film-nel-giorno-della-strage-di-capaci_3208684-201902a.shtml">weren’t happy about this portrayal</a>. It also didn’t help that the film was released on <a href="http://www.sudstyle.it/traditore-buscetta-lunga-scia-polemiche-cannes/">the anniversary of a Mafia rampage</a> that killed an anti-Mafia prosecutor, his wife and their bodyguard. </p>
<h2>Follow the money</h2>
<p>These films and series are popular inside and outside of Italy; “Gomorrah,” for example, is distributed <a href="https://www.corriere.it/tecnologia/serie-tv/cards/serie-tv-italiane-piu-popolari-all-estero/gomorra-distribuita-oltre-190-paesi.shtml">in over 190 countries</a>. </p>
<p>Within Italy, however, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/07/mayor-naples-blames-hit-tv-mafia-series-gomorrah-increase-crime/">protests against</a> these films and series are commonplace. Many Italians are uncomfortable with the way they depict organized crime with characters who are charming and easy to like. Some of the loudest objections come from people who have lost loved ones to the Mafia. </p>
<p>For example, the mayor of Naples claimed that “Gomorrah” corrodes “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/07/mayor-naples-blames-hit-tv-mafia-series-gomorrah-increase-crime/">the brains, minds and hearts of hundreds of young people</a>,” while one judge accused the series’ creators of “<a href="https://www.panorama.it/televisione/serie-tv/gomorra/gomorra-critiche-magistrati/">excessively humanizing crime</a>.”</p>
<p>However, the success of American TV series like “The Sopranos” <a href="http://www.serialminds.com/2014/05/06/gomorra-serie-stefano-sollima-intervista/">conveyed an important lesson to Italian writers and producers</a>: You don’t have to be a good guy to captivate audiences outside of Italy. So for the last 15 years, Italian film and television producers have become famous by presenting organized crime in ways that are an anathema for many Italians but find eager viewers around the world.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iQF1uhlQH5s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for ‘The Traitor.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dana Renga does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Italian filmmakers are starting to take a page from their American counterparts.Dana Renga, Associate Professor of Italian Studies and Film, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1288252020-01-23T14:39:15Z2020-01-23T14:39:15ZFighting organised crime: lessons to learn from how Italy tackles the mafia<p>Organised crime groups based in the UK <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/26/uk-organised-gangs-profit-most-in-europe-from-darknet-drugs-sales-report">reportedly generate more money</a> (over £24 million) from selling illegal drugs on the dark web than in any other country in the world.</p>
<p>Knowing this helps us understand how organised crime groups are using the internet to modernise and make money. But it doesn’t help us understand what these groups really look like, in terms of their internal organisation, recruitment and general “business” activity.</p>
<p>In fact, my current research into organised crime in the UK and Europe reveals big gaps in our knowledge. Law enforcement agencies, policymakers and academics have failed to join the dots (or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/22/uk-organised-crime-can-police-catch-up-national-crime-agency-lynne-owens">even agree</a> on what those dots are) and achieve a full understanding of organised crime. </p>
<p>Take, for example, the human trafficking network that organised the UK-bound lorry journey that led to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/04/essex-lorry-deaths-vietnamese-police-arrest-eight-people">deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals</a> in 2019. Some arrests have been made, but do we really understand how the groups responsible cooperated to facilitate entry into the UK? </p>
<p>Or consider how the approach to “modern slavery” centres on the condition of the victims (which should not be ignored), but not the organisations which create it. </p>
<p>We know that most of the victims in the UK are minors, often forced to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/child-trafficking-county-lines-ganges-exploitation-modern-slavery-minors-home-office-drugs-a8830396.html">transport and sell drugs on the streets</a>. But who are the people controlling the victims who suffer domestic servitude, forced labour and sexual exploitation? Who operates the brothels and cannabis factories, the car washes and restaurants where modern slavery is put into practice?</p>
<p>Perhaps we need to use another approach – one that is less centred around the moment a crime is committed, and takes a wider view of the membership and organisational structures of the groups behind those crimes. </p>
<h2>The Italian way</h2>
<p>Some are <a href="https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2019/12/09/italys-mafia-corruption-laws-are-causing-more-confusion-than-clarity/">critical</a> of the <a href="http://www.lalegislazionepenale.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/internazionale_grandi_2016.pdf">Italian law</a> known as “mafia association”, which focuses on the criminal network and its membership as being a crime in itself. They believe its implementation risks sending innocent people to prison, while others think the law is specific to the Italian context and its history. </p>
<p>But Italian police officials could easily argue that, to a certain extent, their approach is working. In January 2020, the Italian Guardia Di Finanza in Reggio Calabria <a href="http://www.ansa.it/english/news/general_news/2020/01/15/bank-chief-doc-arrested-on-ndrangheta_f14b7157-1b39-4e95-b882-e9d5321ddcb7.html">arrested</a>, among others, a bank manager and a doctor on suspicion of being members of a mafia association, the ‘Ndrangheta. </p>
<p>They were not the “usual suspects” for a mafia. Yet the police’s joined-up approach of looking at all aspects of human behaviour and criminal activities (monitoring meetings, telephone conversations, financial transactions) locally and nationally was able to reveal the extensive power of the criminal network. This investigation highlights how Italian police have the instruments to be able to see the whole network – in particular the side that is hidden within the legal economy, local politics and society. </p>
<p>Again in January 2020, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/15/sicilian-police-launch-dawn-raids-in-eu-subsidies-sting">94 people were arrested</a> on suspicion of having defrauded EU agricultural subsidies. The suspects varied from traditional foot soldiers of the Sicilian mafia to representatives of the local economy and politics. They included a local mayor and an accountant. </p>
<p>This broad and complex approach allows police officers and judges to work in a practical, concrete and cohesive way by looking at the association of the people as a crime. It is the association that seeks to do the harm. </p>
<p>The focus then moves on to the specific wrong doing as a product of a whole group activity – not just the individuals at the lower levels of the chain who do the “dirty work”, like selling drugs on the street. It’s about moving up the chain to intercept the broader supply and importation networks. By looking at the group dynamics, it becomes easier to understand motives and logistics than it is by simply concentrating on standalone crimes.</p>
<p>It is a method which encourages a wider and more informative overview of organised crime. It also acknowledges the intricate nature of how this kind of crime is based both on control of criminal activities and on a “money cycle”. </p>
<p>This is the way organised crime groups seek to simultaneously make money on the streets from illegal activities (drugs, fake goods) and then transfer their profits to the legal economy (businesses, real estate, genuine luxury goods). In other words, following the money becomes central to targeting organised crime groups – and protecting their victims.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felia Allum receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>Police should take a wider view to join the dots that link the networks behind slavery and drugs.Felia Allum, Senior Lecturer in Italian and Politics, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263932019-11-26T14:06:06Z2019-11-26T14:06:06ZJimmy Hoffa disappeared – and then his legacy took on a life of its own<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303034/original/file-20191121-112971-10pgrgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C22%2C2950%2C2002&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jimmy Hoffa waves to delegates at the opening of the 1957 Teamsters Union convention in Miami Beach, Florida.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Hoffa-Search-Chronology/06e32ce7f7a240c794d79fd531a52778/7/0">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa, the former president of the Teamsters Union, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/01/archives/hoffa-is-reported-missing-police-find-his-car.html">disappeared</a>.</p>
<p>He’d gone to a restaurant in suburban Detroit apparently expecting to meet a couple of mafia figures whom he had known for decades. He’d hoped to win their support for his bid to return to the union’s presidency. A few customers remembered seeing him in the restaurant parking lot before 3 p.m. </p>
<p>Sometime after that he vanished without a trace.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Desperate_Bargain.html?id=O27hAAAAMAAJ">FBI has long assumed</a> that Hoffa was the victim of a mob hit. But despite a decades-long investigation, no one has ever been charged with his murder. His body has never been found.</p>
<p>Yet even though his physical remains are missing, Hoffa lives on in our collective cultural consciousness.</p>
<p>Martin Scorsese’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302006/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Irishman</a>” is only the latest film to offer a fictionalized version of Hoffa’s story. Before that there was Sylvester Stallone’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077531/?ref_=nv_sr_8?ref_=nv_sr_8">F.I.S.T.</a>” (1978), Danny DeVito’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104427/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Hoffa</a>” (1992) and the made-for-TV movie “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085252/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2">Blood Feud</a>” (1983).</p>
<p>He’s been the subject of countless true crime books, most famously Charles Brandt’s “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=qPF0PgAACAAJ&dq=i+heard+you+paint+houses&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDo47HnP7lAhUlwVkKHRPiBloQ6AEwAnoECAAQAg">I Heard You Paint Houses</a>.” He inspired <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701151/trivia">an episode</a> of “The Simpsons.” And he crops up in tabloids such as the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=a-4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=hoffa+living+in+argentina&source=bl&ots=UVkTmWJrpl&sig=ACfU3U1-NuSbBYkxOkPZ3qLIsSXAuHgNZQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7heG05IDmAhWmxFkKHR0WAlgQ6AEwCXoECAwQAQ#v=onepage&q=hoffa%20living%20in%20argentina&f=false">Weekly World News</a>, which claimed to have found him living in Argentina, hiding from the vengeful Kennedys.</p>
<p>Ever since I started researching and writing on <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Corruption_and_Reform_in_the_Teamsters_U.html?id=LkVKPwAACAAJ">the history of the Teamsters</a>, people have asked me where I think Hoffa’s body is located. His story, I’ve learned, is the one aspect of labor history with which nearly every American is familiar. </p>
<p>Hoffa’s disappearance transformed him from a controversial union leader into a mythic figure. Over time, I’ve come to realize that Hoffa’s resonance in our culture has important political implications for the labor movement today. </p>
<h2>The rise and fall of the ‘Teamsters Teamster’</h2>
<p>Hoffa became a household name in the late 1950s, when Robert F. Kennedy, then serving as chief counsel for the <a href="https://themobmuseum.org/blog/robert-f-kennedys-crusade-mob-part-2/">Senate Rackets Committee</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rSNQceRJ_0">publicly grilled him</a> about his mob ties.</p>
<p>While other witnesses avoided answering questions by invoking their Fifth Amendment rights, Hoffa, the newly elected leader of the nation’s largest and most powerful union, adopted a defiant stance. He never denied having connections with organized crime figures; instead, he claimed these were the kinds of people he sometimes had to work with as he strengthened and grew his union in the face of employer opposition. He angrily dismissed any allegations of corruption and touted the gains his union had won for its membership. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303574/original/file-20191125-74593-y19pjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303574/original/file-20191125-74593-y19pjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303574/original/file-20191125-74593-y19pjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303574/original/file-20191125-74593-y19pjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303574/original/file-20191125-74593-y19pjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303574/original/file-20191125-74593-y19pjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303574/original/file-20191125-74593-y19pjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa, left, listens to testimony during the Senate Rackets Committee’s hearings on allegations of corruption in the union.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-Dist-of-Columbi-/fa8c98afbae5da11af9f0014c2589dfb/8/0">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/17824432/struggle-get-hoffa">verbal sparring</a> between Kennedy and Hoffa became the most memorable part of the hearings. </p>
<p>To the benefit of big business, it turned Hoffa into a menacing symbol of labor racketeering.</p>
<p>But to his union members, it only enhanced his standing. They were already thrilled by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1958/11/09/archives/why-they-cheer-for-hoffa-the-boss-of-the-teamsters-has-emerged-from.html?searchResultPosition=1">contracts Hoffa had negotiated</a> that included better pay and working conditions. Now his members hailed him as their embattled champion and wore <a href="https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1960ca-hoffa-the-teamsters-teamster-campaign">buttons proclaiming</a>, “Hoffa, the Teamsters Teamster.” </p>
<p>His membership stayed loyal even as Hoffa became the target of a series of prosecution efforts. </p>
<p>After becoming attorney general in 1961, Kennedy created a unit within the Department of Justice whose attorneys referred to themselves as the “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1995/01/14/walter-sheridan-dies/2137398d-9a73-4423-9cf7-8da24eef860b/">Get Hoffa Squad</a>.” Their directive was to target Hoffa and his closest associates. The squad’s efforts culminated in convictions against Hoffa in 1964 <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Out_of_the_Jungle.html?id=a69CD1IRlpYC&source=kp_book_description">for jury tampering and defrauding the union’s pension fund</a>. Despite that setback, Hoffa’s hold on the Teamsters’ presidency remained firm even after he entered federal prison in 1967. </p>
<p>When he finally did leave office, Hoffa did so voluntarily. He resigned in 1971 as <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-04-08-0104080311-story.html">part of a deal to win executive clemency</a> from the Nixon administration. There was one condition written into the president’s grant of clemency: He couldn’t run for a position in the union until 1980.</p>
<p>Once free, Hoffa claimed that his ban from union office was illegitimate and began planning to run for the Teamsters presidency. However, he faced resistance not from the government but from organized crime figures, who had found it easier to work with Hoffa’s successor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/07/obituaries/frank-fitzsimmons-of-teamsters-dies.html">Frank Fitzsimmons</a>. </p>
<p>Hoffa’s meeting at the restaurant on July 30, 1975, was part of his efforts to allay that opposition. </p>
<p>Clearly, things didn’t go as planned. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Teamsters/sLCNAn8ZjKIC?hl=en">Some theorize</a> that the mafia had him killed in order to ensure that he would not run against Fitzsimmons in the Teamsters’ upcoming 1976 union election. </p>
<p>But after no arrests and multiple fruitless excavations to try to locate his body, Hoffa’s case remains, to this day, unresolved.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303041/original/file-20191121-112967-b17v0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303041/original/file-20191121-112967-b17v0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303041/original/file-20191121-112967-b17v0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303041/original/file-20191121-112967-b17v0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303041/original/file-20191121-112967-b17v0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303041/original/file-20191121-112967-b17v0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303041/original/file-20191121-112967-b17v0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this June 2013 photograph, Robert Foley of the FBI’s Detroit division announces that the FBI had come up empty after an excavation, based on a tip, to uncover Hoffa’s remains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Hoffa-Search/0df29dfe203b41dea62bb74cd03b8f83/284/0">AP Photo/Carlos Osorio</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From man to myth</h2>
<p>In Andrew Lawler’s history of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uK6ZDwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PP1&dq=andrew%20lawler%20lost%20colony%20roanoke&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">he writes</a>, “To die is tragic, but to go missing is to become a legend, a mystery.” </p>
<p>Stories are supposed to have a beginning, a middle and an end. But when people go missing and are never found, Lawler explains, they’ll endure as subjects of endless fascination. It allows their legacies to be re-written, over and over. </p>
<p>These new interpretations, Lawler observes, “can reveal something fresh about who we were, who we are, and who we want to be.”</p>
<p>The myth of Hoffa lives on, even though almost five decades have passed since that afternoon in July 1975. </p>
<p>What shapes has it taken?</p>
<p>To some, he stands for an idealized image of the working class – a man who’d known hard, manual labor and worked tirelessly to achieve his success. But even after rising to his leadership post, Hoffa lived simply and eschewed pretense.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/307597398?accountid=13158&pq-origsite=summon">Washington Post article from 1992</a> put it, “He wore white socks, and liked his beef cooked medium well… He snored at the opera.” </p>
<p>Meanwhile, his feud with the Kennedys pitted a populist “tough guy off the loading docks” against “the professional class, the governing class, the educated experts.” The Washington Post piece ties Hoffa’s story to that of another working-class icon. “Watching Hoffa go up against Bobby Kennedy was like watching John Henry go up against a steam hammer – it was only a matter of time before he lost.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303035/original/file-20191121-112981-ejxin7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303035/original/file-20191121-112981-ejxin7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303035/original/file-20191121-112981-ejxin7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303035/original/file-20191121-112981-ejxin7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303035/original/file-20191121-112981-ejxin7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303035/original/file-20191121-112981-ejxin7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303035/original/file-20191121-112981-ejxin7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man walks over rubble in Jersey City, N.J., one of the locations where authorities searched for the body of missing former Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Hoffa-Search/2132e839ae064fdabda70fd83630395e/63/0">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But Hoffa’s myth can also serve as a morality tale. The <a href="https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/212889901?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:summon&accountid=13158">New Republic</a>, for instance, described how Danny DeVito’s 1992 film reworks Hoffa’s life into the story of an “embattled champion of the working class” who makes “a Faustian pact with the underworld.” </p>
<p>In the movie, Hoffa’s Teamsters are caught in hopeless picket line battles with mob goons who the anti-union employers have hired. In order to get those goons to switch sides, Hoffa makes a bargain with mafia leaders. But the mafia ultimately has Hoffa killed when he tries to defy their control, becoming the victim of his own unbridled ambition. </p>
<p>Finally, the underworld’s mysterious role in Hoffa’s death keeps his story compelling for Americans who have a fascination with conspiracy theories. It supports the idea of an invisible cabal that secretly runs everything, and which can make even a famous labor leader disappear without a trace. </p>
<p>Hoffa’s story is often intertwined with <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-withering-public-trust-in-government-be-traced-back-to-the-jfk-assassination-87719">theories about the Kennedy assassination</a> that attribute the president’s murder to an organized crime conspiracy. Both Hoffa and Kennedy’s murders, in these accounts, highlight the underworld’s apparently unlimited power to protect its interests, with tentacles that extend into the government and law enforcement.</p>
<h2>Did Hoffa taint the labor movement?</h2>
<p>Over two decades after he went missing, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-aug-17-op-23341-story.html">a 1997 article in The Los Angeles Times</a> noted that “No union in America conjures up more negative images than the Teamsters.”</p>
<p>This matters, because for most Americans who lack first-hand knowledge about organized labor, Hoffa is the only labor leader’s name they recognize. And as communications scholar <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780875461854/through-jaundiced-eyes/">William Puette</a> has noted, “the Teamsters’ notoriety is such that for many people in this country the Teamsters Union is the labor movement.” </p>
<p>A union widely perceived as mobbed up – with a labor leader notorious for his Mafia ties – has come, in the minds of some Americans, to represent the entire labor movement. That perception, in turn, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-_b_913311">bolsters arguments against legislative reforms</a> that would facilitate union organizing efforts.</p>
<p>The other themes in Hoffa’s myth have similar negative implications for labor. He represents <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/8/11177770/white-working-class-nostalgia-john-wayne">a nostalgic, white, male identity</a> that once existed in a seemingly lost world of manual work. That myth also implies that the unions that emerged in those olden times are no longer necessary.</p>
<p>This depiction doesn’t match reality. Today’s working class is <a href="https://www.demos.org/research/understanding-working-class">diverse</a> and employed in a broad spectrum of hard manual labor. Whether you’re working as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/02/nyregion/home-health-aide.html">home health aide</a> or <a href="https://qz.com/1556194/the-gig-economy-is-quietly-undermining-a-century-of-worker-protections/">in the gig economy</a>, the need for union protection remains quite real. </p>
<p>But for those working-class Americans who see their society controlled by a hidden cabal of powerful, corrupt forces – like the puppet masters who supposedly had JFK and Hoffa killed – <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-so-many-working-class-americans-feel-politics-is-pointless-121232">labor activism can appear quixotic</a>. </p>
<p>For these reasons, the ghost of Jimmy Hoffa continues to haunt the labor movement today.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Scott Witwer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hoffa’s ghost continues to haunt the labor movement.David Scott Witwer, Professor of American Studies, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1201772019-07-17T12:54:10Z2019-07-17T12:54:10ZMafia in Naples is still going strong – and we must not forget how it affects everyday life in the city<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283506/original/file-20190710-44466-5d49fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-downtown-naples-italy-617003516?src=5JdQgHpRqdKBjLfc3mN9XQ-2-52&studio=1">Shutterstock/Bill Chizek</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Italian city of Naples has long been the stronghold of its <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/05/naples-mob-paolo-di-lauro-italy">own brand of mafia</a> known as the Camorra. But according to some, its dominance has now been overtaken by the presence of “baby gangs”. </p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/camorra-child-gangsters-replace-omerta-with-social-media-boasting">growing perception</a> that the Camorra has somehow given way to a new kind of criminal activity carried out by urban groups of bored adolescents. Trigger happy, but also knife carriers, with no rules of engagement or strongly held values, these “baby gangs” roam the city looking for trouble or trying to catch the eye of established Camorra members. </p>
<p>They are gratuitously violent, actively seeking confrontation, and live wholly in the present moment with no thought for the future. But have these groups really usurped the traditional mafia presence in Naples? Or is this recent media narrative inspired by an increase in casual youth violence combined with novels, documentaries and films such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/28/piranhas-roberto-saviano-review-gomorrah-camorra">Roberto Saviano’s The Piranhas</a>?</p>
<p>A closer look at the situation makes it clear that the apparent fading of the Camorra does not ring true. Sexy and eye catching for the media it may be, but it is a confusing, dangerous and reckless view for the rest of us – a distraction while the traditional Camorra continues doing business and controlling the territory. </p>
<p>Because the truth is that the Camorra is very much alive and kicking. Just last month, local and national special police forces <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/over-120-arrested-in-italian-mafia-raids/news-story/ad7f86d98acf6358409774d792580fce?nk=81b69526afe1b6945d888e6c6656cab5-1562761573">arrested a total of 126</a> alleged members of a Camorra federation which has supposedly been controlling the city and its criminal activities since the late 1990s. </p>
<p>The judiciary’s arrest warrants focused on activities between 2011 and 2016, seizing real estate and goods with a net worth of €130m. Assets included 80 cars, 81 motorbikes, restaurants, bars, supermarkets, shops, car parks, garages, diamonds, and luxury watches. It was an operation which highlights once again the pervasive – but too easily forgotten – power of the Neapolitan Camorra. </p>
<p>We also sometimes forget how territorial Italian mafias are. For while they maintain a strong and lucrative interest in the international drugs market and launder money abroad regularly, a heavy local presence remains key to their income and recruitment strategy. </p>
<p>Extorting businesses and loan sharking in their “communities” should not be underestimated as a solid money making activity, where it allows the various clans to take almost complete economic hold of a district. The clans are able to dominate the economic activities and the daily lives of many citizens without anyone having the courage to denounce them. </p>
<p>This can often mean clan members lending “clients” money as part of their loan-sharking activities – a vicious cycle that can quickly turn to violence or clan members taking over shares in a business. In one case, the client was forced to hand over a <a href="https://www.stylo24.it/inchieste/alleanza-secondigliano-cimitero-poggioreale/">cemetery chapel</a>, in another, a struggling <a href="https://www.napolitoday.it/cronaca/suicidi-usura-alleanza-secondigliano.html">client killed himself</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6cSznxwQvG4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Italian mafias remain pervasive and invasive, seeing particular value in public spaces as locations where they can demonstrate their power and defy the state. After last month’s arrests, it was suggested by the Italian judiciary that the hospital of San Giovanni Bosco in Naples had <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/06/26/camorra-126-arresti-contro-lalleanza-di-secondigliano-ospedale-san-giovanni-bosco-era-la-sede-sociale-dei-clan/5282330/">become a mafia stronghold</a>and fiefdom.</p>
<h2>Hospital of the mafia?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_cTxB4pzro">According to claims from the Local Antimafia Directorate (DDA)</a>, one alleged arm of the Contini clan and one member in particular, who “worked” as a hospital porter, was apparently able to exert influence and interfere in decisions and projects across the hospital. It is suggested that his reputation, and the alleged presence of other clan members working in various roles, allowed the Camorra in effect to take over the running of a medical institution. </p>
<p>The clan allegedly used the hospital as its social headquarters - a safe haven - and a meeting place for Camorra summits, and as a location for the exchange of extortion money and loan repayments. It is even said to have controlled the system of medical visits and operations, gaining favours from doctors (including signing false medical certificates and looking after injured clan members) and special access to medical treatment bypassing the normal bureaucratic channels and waiting lists. </p>
<p>Moreover, according to the DDA, the private company that managed the ambulances was allegedly <a href="https://napoli.fanpage.it/ospedale-san-giovanni-bosco-camorra/">close to the clan</a>, apparently enabling it to manage comings and goings to the hospital as well as make a healthy profit. For example, the clan allegedly exploited the desire for people to have their deceased loved ones taken home, charging €400-500 per journey cash in hand. </p>
<p>It was also said to be able to influence decisions involving the distribution of public contracts for hospital services, in particular, prosecutors allege, the cleaning contract which their company won with its members as employees, or the hospital canteen being run by a Camorra company.</p>
<p>If proved in court, these allegations represent the true colonisation of a public space by a traditional mafia – a shocking example of how the Camorra continues to infiltrate all aspects of life in the city. </p>
<p>For the citizens of Naples, everyday life – whether it is shopping, socialising, or even seeking health care – remains dominated by organised and sophisticated crime. It is a long way from being overtaken by gangs of roaming adolescents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felia Allum receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>Suggestions that the Camorra has been usurped are exaggerated.Felia Allum, Senior Lecturer in Italian and Politics, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1181362019-06-21T12:26:12Z2019-06-21T12:26:12ZHow mafia and corruption scandals rocked Italian football and left fans with a crisis of faith<p>Football could be considered Italy’s <a href="https://globalteamevents.com/soccer-in-italy-a-look-at-the-culture-and-history-of-italys-most-popular-sport/">most popular sport</a>, with world-class teams <a href="https://www.forbes.com/soccer-valuations/list/">worth billions</a> attracting <a href="https://www.pwc.com/it/en/publications/assets/docs/reportcalcio-2017.pdf">a dedicated following</a> across the country. But more than that, football shapes the nation’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14660970008721268">collective identity</a>, bringing people from the smallest village to the biggest city <a href="http://www.cussoc.it/index.php/journal/article/view/37">together in their love</a> for “the beautiful game”. </p>
<p>But over the past decade, media investigations and <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Corruption-Mafia-Power-and-Italian-Soccer/Testa-Sergi/p/book/9781138289932">research have uncovered</a> an unseemly lack of virtue within the industry. Mafia infiltration and corruption have come to characterise Italian football to the point that malpractice, deviance and criminal behaviour might seem to be the norm. </p>
<p>For example, fans of one of Italy’s most successful teams, Juventus Football Club (also known as “Juve”), have been dismayed by a series of <a href="https://www.thelocal.it/20170126/top-italian-football-club-accused-of-mafia-links">corruption allegations</a>. In April 2019, the Italian Supreme Court <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/04/19/ndrangheta-in-curva-juve-cassazione-conferma-i-clan-controllavano-gli-ultras-per-spartirsi-i-ricavi-del-bagarinaggio/5122423/">ruled that</a> Juventus managers had supplied match tickets that were touted for profit by groups of hard-core fans, known as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/01/nside-talys-ultras-the-dangerous-fans-who-control-the-game">ultras</a>, under the control of individuals linked to the Calabrian mafia, known as <a href="http://theconversation.com/meet-the-ndrangheta-and-why-its-time-to-bust-some-myths-about-the-calabrian-mafia-54075">the ‘ndrangheta</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-ndrangheta-and-why-its-time-to-bust-some-myths-about-the-calabrian-mafia-54075">Meet the ’Ndrangheta – and why it's time to bust some myths about the Calabrian mafia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In an earlier case, concluded in October 2018, former Juventus player and 2006 World Cup winner Vincenzo Iaquinta <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46048806">was sentenced</a> to two years in prison for firearms offences, in part of a larger trial concerning the infiltration of ‘ndrangheta clans in northern Italy. The footballer’s father was also sentenced to 19 years on mafia-related charges. </p>
<h2>Playing for power</h2>
<p>These incidents are not confined to one club – organised crime groups have interests at all levels of the sport. In 2018, football generated <a href="https://www.calcioefinanza.it/2018/07/26/quanto-vale-calcio-in-italia-2017-volume-affari/">€2.397 billion</a> in Italy alone – the bulk of which came from audiences, not even counting TV, sponsorship and advertising contracts. It’s obvious that an industry attracting such enormous amounts of money would make an appealing target for criminal groups that seek to accumulate profits and conceal the proceeds of crime. </p>
<p>But mafia-type groups are also <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319535678">driven by power</a>, with the aim of gaining influence through intimidation or protection and ultimately governing through violence or corruption. Criminal groups such as 'ndrangheta clans use football as a platform to boost their reputation and prestige through more or less legal activities. </p>
<p>Some clans will interfere with youth soccer associations, for example by sponsoring young players, buying or establishing teams or even “saving” them if they are in financial difficulties. A <a href="http://www.giuseppelumia.it/2014/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/17_12_13-Bozza-relazione-CALCIO.pdf">special committee</a> of the Italian parliamentary Antimafia Commission explored these occurrences throughout Italy in 2017. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280189/original/file-20190619-171271-1oxnz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280189/original/file-20190619-171271-1oxnz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280189/original/file-20190619-171271-1oxnz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280189/original/file-20190619-171271-1oxnz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280189/original/file-20190619-171271-1oxnz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280189/original/file-20190619-171271-1oxnz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280189/original/file-20190619-171271-1oxnz7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ultras of AC Milan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/milan-italyseptember-28-2017-hooligans-soccer-726963664?studio=1">Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Groups may use the leverage gained in local environments to exploit business opportunities or gain power at higher levels, too. In <a href="https://www.thelocal.it/20170126/top-italian-football-club-accused-of-mafia-links">the case of Juventus</a>, ticket touting offered clans control over a profitable market, as well as a means to exercise power over the <a href="https://theconversation.com/gunfire-streetfights-and-ultras-violence-bring-final-shame-to-italian-football-spectacle-26346">sometimes violent ultras</a>. This, in turn, boosts the reputation of the clans by demonstrating their capacity to exercise influence and control over people and territories using money and violence, if needed. </p>
<h2>Losing faith</h2>
<p>Mafia groups also use personal networks and contacts to fix match results and benefit from illegal betting networks. A famous case involving a Serie A footballer, <a href="https://thesefootballtimes.co/2014/05/06/the-mobsters-grandson-giuseppe-sculli-and-the-ndrangheta/">Giuseppe Sculli</a> – the grandson of a very prominent ‘ndrangheta boss – showed how mafia interests can be pursued through players or referees for criminal purposes. </p>
<p>In Italian football, match-fixing can occur at alarming scales. The Calciopoli scandal in 2004 eventually led to Juventus being <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/calciopoli-2006-match-fixing-scandal-juventus-relegated">relegated to the lower league</a> in 2006. During this case, <a href="http://static.fanpage.it.s3.amazonaws.com/socialmediafanpage/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/sentenza-calciopoli-motivazioni-appello.pdf">it was alleged</a> that different football players, referees and managers had created a system of corruption and sleaze which favoured the victories of certain teams, including in the Serie A. </p>
<p>Italians’ <a href="https://arenacalcio.it/2019/01/10/calciopoli-dodici-anni-dopo-secondo-moggi-e-tutto-da-rifare-con-laiuto-dei-tifosi/">faith in fairness in football</a> after the Calciopoli scandal has dropped drastically. But money laundering and fraud allegations continue to be made against those the highest level, as seen in the 2019 case concerning the <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/01/25/palermo-calcio-zamparini-ai-domiciliari-per-falso-in-bilancio-e-autoriciclaggio-lui-una-storia-di-vergogna-per-la-citta/4923791/">former president of the Palermo FC</a>, Massimo Zamparini. </p>
<p>While the state of Italian football seems especially bleak, allegations of corruption in this industry happen everywhere. In October 2018, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/10/belgian-football-clubs-raided-fraud-match-fixing-inquiry">Belgian authorities</a> charged five people in relation to a massive police inquiry into financial fraud and match-fixing. In May 2019, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48431483">Spanish police forces</a> arrested a number of La Liga and second division players and club executives as part of an investigation into match-fixing. Most recently, in June 2019, former UEFA president and Juventus football star <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/michel-platini-french-football-star-detained-on-suspicion-of-corruption-over-2022-world-cup-11743932">Michel Platini was arrested on suspicion of corruption</a> over the decision to name Qatar as host nation of the 2022 World Cup – even as he serves a four-year ban from football for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/09/michel-platini-cas-appeal-ban-football">receiving a “disloyal payment”</a>. </p>
<h2>A red card for corruption</h2>
<p>There is no doubt that boosting public confidence in the fairness of football requires improved systems of governance, from the local levels to the national arenas. So it’s <a href="https://sports.abs-cbn.com/football/news/2019/05/25/fifa-restoring-corruption-ethics-code-criticism-57109">good news</a> that international governing body FIFA is set to restore the offence of corruption to its ethics code, having it removed the previous year. </p>
<p>There also needs to be better care and transparency around the enormous amount of money that the industry attracts. FIFA and national bodies – such as the FIGC in Italy, for example – need to oversee the transactions for buying and selling teams and players, make arrangements for legal betting and ensure accountability in sponsorship systems, to begin with. </p>
<p>But there also needs to be an awareness that the industry offers social and symbolic capital to mafia organisations and organised crime groups, as well as economic opportunities to “dirty” entrepreneurs. In response, bodies such as FIFA need to develop specialist knowledge and build in antidotes to corruption, while maintaining oversight and disciplinary power over the industry.</p>
<p>The football field is a meeting place for different interests and different people. It’s a space for business, but also for entertainment and competition. Leadership of such fields requires integrity, dedication and the will to work for the many – not enrich the few.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Sergi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>High-profile cases of corruption, ticket touting and match fixing have led Italians to lose faith in the beautiful game.Anna Sergi, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1100432019-01-18T11:44:57Z2019-01-18T11:44:57ZAlbanian mafia: the dangerous myth that distorts our view of the global drugs trade<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254367/original/file-20190117-32837-1n6ollk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tall tales.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU0Nzc2ODg2NSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfNjk5NTY3NzMzIiwiayI6InBob3RvLzY5OTU2NzczMy9odWdlLmpwZyIsIm0iOjEsImQiOiJzaHV0dGVyc3RvY2stbWVkaWEifSwiU0czWlVyMnRabVlrQmJWam9tVHpTRHpod1RVIl0%2Fshutterstock_699567733.jpg&pi=33421636&m=699567733&src=f1Ee7vCFiwgTVS_QmQLp0Q-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the last few months, if not years, the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/sophisticated-albanian-gangs-linked-to-people-trafficking-surge-in-uk-11555887">UK media</a> has reported claims by law enforcement authorities of an upsurge of serious, complex criminality conducted by Albanian organised crime groups, often referred to as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/13/kings-of-cocaine-albanian-mafia-uk-drugs-crime">“Albanian mafia”</a>.</p>
<p>These gangs have been linked specifically to <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=12&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiuq7DVoPTfAhUllYsKHVtlA344ChCpAggrKAAwAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.occrp.org%2Fen%2Fdaily%2F8933-uk-human-trafficking-surge-linked-to-albanian-gangs&usg=AOvVaw3GuQ6aV6RSjzOGLroR1Mj-">human trafficking</a> from the Balkans and increasing <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/albanian-gangs-fuel-spread-of-violence-with-crack-cocaine-ck2g5swsp">violence</a> in the drug trafficking underworld. Indeed, these groups seem to have conquered substantial territory especially, but not only, in the cocaine trade, with <a href="http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/807-national-strategic-assessment-of-serious-and-organised-crime-2017/file">reports by the National Crime Agency (NCA)</a> declaring that while Albanian groups make up only a small (0.8%) percentage of organised criminals in the UK, they play a disproportionately large role in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/29/albanian-gangs-control-uk-cocaine-market-says-agency">the country’s cocaine market</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics/2017-nrm-statistics/884-nrm-annual-report-2017/file">NCA has also confirmed</a> that the engagement of these gangs in human trafficking is particularly worrying and that it involves mostly victims from Albania or neighbouring countries, usually lured into travelling to the UK with false promises of jobs. While there is no evidence to suggest that the groups involved in the drug trade, especially cocaine, are the same groups involved in human trafficking, the authorities do not hesitate to talk about Albanian criminal groups as <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwirgqLAofTfAhUJs4sKHQ14DDMQFjABegQICRAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.sky.com%2Fstory%2Fsophisticated-albanian-gangs-linked-to-people-trafficking-surge-in-uk-11555887&usg=AOvVaw0scd8ZHCY-YCtuF5nw1xPN">poly-crime networks</a>, committing a range of serious offences.</p>
<h2>Telling a story</h2>
<p>Without dismissing the plight of the victims of human trafficking or intelligence agency analysis of the drugs trade, what we are witnessing here is another example of how a myth is created, constructed and then perpetuated.</p>
<p>In this case, it is the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27702121?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">“mafia myth”</a>, a specific construction of an underworld where ethnicity is the prime characteristic of an “other” that is on one side feared and on the other glamourised.</p>
<p>The mafia myth is often linked to better-known organised crime groups, such as the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/S15327892MCP0202_5">Italian</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2311.00105">Russian</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17440570600650166">Japanese mafia</a>. When these groups are called by their specific names, such as the Sicilian (or Italian-American) “cosa nostra”, the Calabrian “’ndrangheta”, the Russian “bratva”, or the “yakuza” in Japan, what they have in common is the fact that they evoke images of secretive organisations, engaging in crime, violence and corruption. Crucially, the organisations seemingly are built on shared traditions, norms, values and rituals rooted in the common ethnicity of the individuals within them.</p>
<p>And so while organised crime is mostly a market or <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1477370815578196">activity-based</a> phenomenon (engaged in drug trafficking or people smuggling, for example), when we read about mafias it is often, if not always, with reference to <a href="https://books.google.it/books?hl=en&lr=&id=m4otDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=ethnic+organised+crime+Canada+sergi&ots=kh6AlF3vRo&sig=WW_LRxN82-I2VSp1BTLPd-bh4k0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">ethnicity</a>: the Italians, the Russians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Turkish – and, currently, the Albanians. The mafia label is often applied to tight ethnic groups that have an honour-based culture and are particularly attached to family structures, such as the <a href="https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/albol/40">Albanian Kanun</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254368/original/file-20190117-32813-1hnkipy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254368/original/file-20190117-32813-1hnkipy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254368/original/file-20190117-32813-1hnkipy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254368/original/file-20190117-32813-1hnkipy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254368/original/file-20190117-32813-1hnkipy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254368/original/file-20190117-32813-1hnkipy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254368/original/file-20190117-32813-1hnkipy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who is really behind the cocaine business?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU0Nzc2ODg2NSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfNjk5NTY3NzMzIiwiayI6InBob3RvLzY5OTU2NzczMy9odWdlLmpwZyIsIm0iOjEsImQiOiJzaHV0dGVyc3RvY2stbWVkaWEifSwiU0czWlVyMnRabVlrQmJWam9tVHpTRHpod1RVIl0%2Fshutterstock_699567733.jpg&pi=33421636&m=699567733&src=f1Ee7vCFiwgTVS_QmQLp0Q-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Excellent <a href="https://books.google.it/books?id=qSsaBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=decoding+Albanian+organised+crime&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwithMLfo_TfAhWEkCwKHSOeC7kQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=decoding%20Albanian%20organised%20crime&f=false">fieldwork</a> conducted by academics, including interviews with offenders, judicial cases and ethnographic accounts, has already shown how criminal <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/01/05/the-albanian-mafia-are-not-really-a-mafia">Albanian groups actually lack coordination</a> when acting abroad, such as in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. In most cases, they also lack direct connections with criminal groups in their country of origin.</p>
<h2>United?</h2>
<p>Albanians operating in the illegal drug trade also work with <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/37-ccblog/ccblog/9010-inside-the-mafia-run-cocaine-network-shattered-by-european-police">other groups</a>, such as <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwichLitpPTfAhVjMOwKHX8LCEIQFjAAegQIBhAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fmeet-the-ndrangheta-and-why-its-time-to-bust-some-myths-about-the-calabrian-mafia-54075&usg=AOvVaw1oyaqrdMJcypHLIy6c-vSi">’ndrangheta</a> clans and chapters of the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiMhcHDpPTfAhUP3qQKHb_NDxoQqQIIOCgAMAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.adelaidenow.com.au%2Fnews%2Fsouth-australia%2Fadelaide-gangster-leonard-gjeka-deported-to-his-native-albania%2Fnews-story%2Ff18b6cc9bcbbfbb421af476c42955fdf&usg=AOvVaw0cNznFZf1THvvvt3LMQ6TF">Hells Angels</a>. While it is certainly possible that some Albanian offenders have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/13/kings-of-cocaine-albanian-mafia-uk-drugs-crime">direct access to drug (and especially cocaine) producers</a> in countries such as Bolivia and Peru, these groups are mostly connected to <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjNmujrpPTfAhWJDOwKHTUJBSMQqQIIOCgAMAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Felpais.com%2Felpais%2F2018%2F07%2F02%2Finenglish%2F1530521093_187450.html&usg=AOvVaw1Pd8oji-DH-BQZQEFJzYXv">the distribution, rather than the trafficking, of drugs</a>. This means that they often deal in cocaine after it has arrived through the relevant ports of entry, and rely on <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjW8dCHpfTfAhUiNOwKHV7XBWUQFjAJegQIBhAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trasportoeuropa.it%2Findex.php%2Fhome%2Farchvio%2F14-marittimo%2F17285-arresti-nel-porto-genova-per-traffico-di-coca&usg=AOvVaw2dIij6BGEuRosegJLvVxJI">agreements</a> with those groups who handle the actual trafficking, such as the <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/it/book/9783319325842">Calabrian ‘ndrangheta clans</a>.</p>
<p>There is widespread confusion over the role of traffickers and those who distribute drugs once they have been smuggled into a country. And this is understandable – it is a complex network. But those who receive the drugs and distribute them to other vendors, within or outside their own networks, are also the most visible and face the greatest risks. They are the ones who deliver drugs and deliver them fast, even when this means operating through intimidation and violence when dealing with rival groups trading the same or similar products.</p>
<p>Albanian networks have been referred to as being particularly <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjW07GjpfTfAhXG2KQKHVQHBJ8QFjAFegQIBxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vice.com%2Fen_uk%2Farticle%2Fpaakyv%2Fthe-rise-and-rise-of-britains-albanian-coke-dealers&usg=AOvVaw02QyMZfAMGf68r6o0Th-fS">reliable</a> operators in the chain. But their ultimate significance in the drugs world should be questioned. While obviously important, they still depend on the traffickers who source, organise and ship the drugs first.</p>
<p>To a degree, the idea of a highly organised, global Albanian mafia remains a myth that creates negative stereotypes about, and animosity within, the global Albanian migrant diaspora. It also misses the point that the global criminal underworld is often a combination of complex opportunity structures and a delicate equilibrium of different roles, which are played by a huge variety of individuals. Shared ethnicity might facilitate or enable this to some extent, but it certainly does not create it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110043/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Sergi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Stories about mafias are often driven by ethnic stereotypes.Anna Sergi, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1087142018-12-13T14:26:51Z2018-12-13T14:26:51ZItalian Mafia activities are expanding abroad – and European police forces are still unprepared<p>Members of the Italian mafia like to travel abroad – not necessarily for pleasure, but to make money. And the harm they are doing to European economies is often underplayed, trivialised or ignored.</p>
<p>Organised crime groups are good at exploiting business opportunities away from home. Companies set up for money laundering purposes distort European economies because their constant cash flow gives them an unfair advantage in the marketplace. </p>
<p>When I walk around London, I wonder how many of the busy nail bars, shops and restaurants are merely fronts for organised crime. For I was once told by a former member of the Neapolitan mafia: “The ambition for [an Italian] mafia member, is to go abroad, and particularly, England.” </p>
<p>They consider the UK to be an attractive destination because it is relatively easy to set up a company, and its legal system does not recognise “mafia membership” as a crime.</p>
<p>Officials are fighting back with some success, however. In December 2018, hundreds of Dutch, German, Belgian and Italian police officers <a href="https://www.thelocal.it/20181205/italy-ndrangheta-mafia-suspects-bust">arrested dozens of members</a> of the powerful Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta, on suspicion of drug trafficking and money laundering activities across Europe. They also seized large amounts of drugs and cash from locations including Italian restaurants and ice cream parlours. </p>
<p>But is this too little, too late? Since the 1990s, there have been stark warnings of the harm Italian mafias can inflict on European countries as they exploit opportunities created by globalisation. </p>
<p>In 1991, British police based in Rome <a href="https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1991/11/13/londra-allarme-mafia-sono-sbarcati.html?ref=search">warned</a> of the presence of Italian mafias in the UK. Two years later, the French parliament <a href="http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/9/dossiers/933251.asp">reported</a> on the fight against the mafia’s attempt to penetrate France. Similar warnings were being made in the Netherlands. </p>
<p>But it wasn’t until 2012 that the European Parliament really addressed the situation. The following year, Europol (the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation) finally <a href="https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/threat-assessment-italian-organised-crime">published</a> an “Italian Organised Crime Threat Assessment”. </p>
<p>It attempted to fill the “important information gap” which exists around the activities of Italian mafias in Europe. As Europol itself <a href="https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/italian_organised_crime_threat_assessment_0.pdf">noted</a>, the “difficulty in collecting information” highlights the fact that mafias operate “under the radar” outside Italy. </p>
<p>Finally, in November 2018, Europol set up a specific operational network focusing on Italian mafia activities abroad, with the Italian Anti-mafia Police playing a <a href="https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/new-era-dawns-in-fight-against-mafia-groups-europol-key-player-in-brand-new-operational-network">leading role</a>. </p>
<p>This is an important step in the fight against Italian organised crime. But it is worth noting that it was a step mostly driven by Italian law enforcement agencies (whose success has helped to force Italian mafiosi and their money abroad to neighbouring countries) after the initiatives of the European Parliament. </p>
<h2>Mafia moves</h2>
<p>Now their fellow agencies across Europe must develop more efficient and coordinated strategies in response. Yet there appears to be no agreement on the action needed. The European Parliament and Europol remain limited and isolated if the majority of their members still refuse to engage with the problem. As one Italian prosecutor told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My job is to investigate Italian mafias and their activities in Italy, not when they travel abroad. If my European colleagues are not interested in following up the information I provide them with on Italian mafia suspects, I cannot do very much more.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ultimately, there is a lack of understanding across Europe about what mafia membership crime looks like – which can be difficult if you have not witnessed first hand the power of a mafia, and how it imposes itself on society, economics and politics. </p>
<p>As criminal groups travel and export their activities abroad, there needs to be flexibility around policing. Organised crime groups thrive as borders come down, whereas law enforcement agents appear to flounder when closer international cooperation is required. They become entangled in bureaucratic procedures and cultural misunderstandings. Different legal systems need to work together to avoid situations where criminals can be condemned in one country but go free in another. </p>
<p>We also need to address the lack of political will to tackle organised crime and mafia activities. European politicians engage and seek to defeat terrorism but as far as Italian mafias and organised crime go – and their ability to infiltrate legal economies and launder their proceeds of crime, made more often than not, from drug trafficking – there is no consistent political will to defeat them. </p>
<p>The recent arrests of 'Ndrangheta members across Europe can be seen as a concrete step forward. But it also highlights how far we are behind in terms of understanding and developing a coordinated European strategy to follow Italian mafia money.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felia Allum receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust.
</span></em></p>Working abroad can be a profitable option for members of criminal groups.Felia Allum, Senior Lecturer in Italian and Politics, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1030312018-09-26T16:00:35Z2018-09-26T16:00:35ZHow the mafia uses violence to control politics<p>Italy is not the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42794848">only country with an organized crime problem</a>. But movies and TV shows like “Scarface,” “The Godfather” and “Gomorrah” have made the Italian mobs – in both their southern Italian and American incarnations – world-famous. </p>
<p>Such pop culture portrayals tend to romanticize a dangerous phenomenon that’s all too real for those whose lives it affects. </p>
<p>What TV and movies have often gotten right, however, is the idea that Italy’s criminal networks are powerful enough to threaten the government. </p>
<p>According to the country’s first-ever comprehensive survey on <a href="http://www.avvisopubblico.it/home/home/cosa-facciamo/pubblicazioni/amministratori-sotto-tiro/">political violence</a>, Italy saw 1,191 violent attacks against politicians between 2013 and 2015. The count, undertaken by the Italian nonprofit organization Avviso Pubblico, was culled from local news stories and first-hand accounts.</p>
<p>How does this pervasive violence affect Italian politics? </p>
<p>A new <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272717301251">paper in the Journal of Public Economics</a>, which I co-authored alongside University of Pennsylvania political scientist Gemma Dipoppa, analyzes Italy’s new survey data to find out. </p>
<h2>Why do criminals attack politicians?</h2>
<p>The goals of criminal organizations differ from group to group. </p>
<p>Organized crime is defined as a highly centralized, often international criminal enterprise that seeks to infiltrate politics and extract public resources for <a href="http://www.people.hbs.edu/rditella/papers/APSRPlataPlomo.pdf">private benefits</a>.</p>
<p>In Italy, our study found, the mafia frequently threatens politicians to obtain government contracts that pay handsomely for <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3124949">waste management, construction</a> and other public services.</p>
<p>Individual politicians who threaten those business interests may find themselves in danger. Physical assaults, arson and threats are the mafia’s favored tactics. These crimes make up 70 percent of the 1,191 political attacks documented by Avviso Pubblico.</p>
<p>After the director of a Sicilian national park in 2016 strengthened anti-mafia checks on local firms applying to work in the park, for example, he narrowly survived a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/19/sicilian-mafia-try-to-assassinate-head-of-national-park-in-night/">nighttime assassination attempt</a>. </p>
<p>Other politicians are corrupt, contributing to Italy’s organized crime problem by sharing illegal profits with the mob. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://youmedia.fanpage.it/video/aa/WpCVzuSwR86CPntI">We all have to get our fill</a>,” said one Naples bureaucrat who was recorded taking bribes from the mafia. </p>
<p>Between 1991 and 2018, Italian police dissolved <a href="http://www.avvisopubblico.it/home/home/cosa-facciamo/informare/documenti-tematici/comuni-sciolti-per-mafia/amministrazioni-sciolte-mafia-dati-riassuntivi/">266</a> city councils for having ties with criminal organizations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237372/original/file-20180920-129862-127tgrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237372/original/file-20180920-129862-127tgrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237372/original/file-20180920-129862-127tgrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237372/original/file-20180920-129862-127tgrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237372/original/file-20180920-129862-127tgrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237372/original/file-20180920-129862-127tgrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237372/original/file-20180920-129862-127tgrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Media representations of the mafia like ‘The Sopranos’ tend to romanticize mobsters. But they get some things right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/diariocriticove/9093537008">Diariocritico de Venezuela/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Local officials are most at risk</h2>
<p>Interestingly, none of the documented political violence we analyzed targeted national figures – likely because attacking well-known politicians would bring more media exposure. </p>
<p>Rather, the Italian mafia typically targets local officials. Mayors were the target of 310 of the documented 1,191 attacks on politicians from 2013 to 2015.</p>
<p>Italians know this, because these stories play out regularly in local newspapers.</p>
<p>The mayor of <a href="http://www.avvisopubblico.it/home/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/AmmSottoTiro_Rapporto2017.pdf">Marcianise</a>, a town near Naples, left office in early 2018 after a wave of threats, for example. </p>
<p><iframe id="c5011" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/c5011/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>And the mayor of <a href="http://www.avvisopubblico.it/home/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/avvisopubblico_rapporto_amministratori-sotto-tiro-2015_giugno-2016_colore.pdf">Rizziconi</a>, in the southern Italian province of Reggio Calabria, has been blacklisted by some community members – and even by some of his own relatives – after reporting the mob’s pressure tactics against him to the police. </p>
<p>Mafia attacks on politicians are usually linked to the electoral cycle. </p>
<p>In regions where criminal organizations are more powerful – such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mafia">Sicily</a>, <a href="http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/events/2011/03/14/the-origins-of-the-ndrangheta-of-calabria-italys-most-powerful-mafia/">Calabria</a> and <a href="http://www.hrpub.org/download/201309/sa.2013.010211.pdf">Campania</a> – our research found that political violence was much more likely immediately after a local election.<br>
Political violence is 25 percent more likely in the four weeks after the election of a new mayor. </p>
<p>This sends a message to newly elected officials: They are the mafia’s new negotiating partners in government. They need to understand the risks associated with disobeying the will of organized crime. </p>
<h2>Political violence diminishes a candidate pool</h2>
<p>Strategic political violence has a destructive effect on political life in Italy. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12237">prior research</a> shows that if politics seems like a dangerous job, some competent and educated individuals will be discouraged from entering the field. </p>
<p>I studied Italian candidates for local political office between 1985 and 2011. My data came from over 1,500 southern municipalities where strong anti-mafia law enforcement policies during that period had effectively reduced the presence of the mob.</p>
<p>In the first election after a drop in organized crime, I discovered that politicians in these cities were 18 percent more educated, meaning a substantially higher number held a university degree. </p>
<p>Typically less than 25 percent of elected officials in these areas have completed college.</p>
<p>Apparently, politics is perceived as a more appealing field when it is less influenced by criminal organizations, thus attracting more qualified candidates. </p>
<p>The reverse <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268117301993">also holds true</a>. Italian cities that experience an increase in mafia presence see competent officials quitting politics for less dangerous professions. </p>
<h2>How organized crime hurts citizens</h2>
<p>These findings shed light on how organized crime hurts millions of Italians who have nothing to do with the mafia’s illegal business. </p>
<p>Targeted political violence by the mafia distorts the electoral process, reducing the quality of the candidate pool and compromising officials.</p>
<p>These dangerous dynamics, of course, are not restricted to Italy. </p>
<p>During Mexico’s 2018 election season, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/27/americas/mexico-political-deaths-election-season-trnd/index.html">132</a> politicians and political operatives were killed. Drug cartels are believed to be behind many of the assassinations, though the crimes remain unsolved. </p>
<p>Colombia has also seen targeted violence decimate its politics. </p>
<p>In 2002, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC guerrillas, launched a campaign to intimidate public officials who were unsympathetic to its cause. Five politicians were murdered and <a href="http://www.people.hbs.edu/rditella/papers/APSRPlataPlomo.pdf">222 of 463 mayors in Colombia</a> resigned due to death threats. </p>
<p>Similar processes are most likely playing out in other countries with organized crime groups sufficiently strong and organized to threaten politicians and other civil servants, among them <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mafia-murders-shock-serbia-reveal-web-of-corruption/a-44902334">Serbia</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/28/slovakian-journalist-was-investigating-political-links-to-italian-mafia">Slovakia</a>.</p>
<p>And as organized crime enriches itself, our findings show, it impoverishes local politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gianmarco Daniele does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Italy saw 1,191 attacks on politicians from 2013 to 2015. A new study reveals, for the first time, the destructive effect this strategic political violence has on the nation’s political life.Gianmarco Daniele, Post-Doctoral economics researcher, Bocconi UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.