Codes of Commitment to Crime and Resistance: Determining Social and Cultural Factors over the Behaviors of Italian Mafia Women

This article categorizes thirty-three women in four main Italian Mafia groups and explores social and cultural behaviors of these women. This study introduces the feminist theory of belief and action. The theoretical inquiry investigates the sometimes conflicting behaviors of women when they are subject to systematic oppression. I argue that there is a cultural polarization among the categorized sub-groups. Conservative radicals give their support to the Mafia while defectors and rebels resist the Mafia. After testing the theory, I assert that emancipation of women depends on the strength of their beliefs to perform actions against the Mafiosi culture

What's in a Name? Shifting Identities of Traditional Organized Crime in Canada in the Transnational Fight against the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta

The Italian antimafia authorities have warned Canadian law enforcement about the risks and the growing concerns for the infiltration of clans of the Calabrian mafia, known as ‘ndrangheta, in Eastern Canada. The alarm linked to the rise of the ‘ndrangheta challenges the paradigms of traditional organized crime in Canada, because the ‘ndrangheta is presented as traditional but also innovative and more pervasive than other mafia-type groups. Through access to confidential investigations and interviews to key specialist law enforcement teams in Toronto and Montreal, this article investigates today's institutional perception of mafia – the ‘ndrangheta in particular – in Canada when compared to Italian conceptualizations. I will argue that the changes in narratives in Canada can be read in relation to changes in the Italian identity in the country, moving towards regionalization and specialist knowledge of ethnic differences

Rognoni e la lotta alla mafia

Anche sulla base della constatazione del ruolo forse troppo marginale attribuito ad oggi dalla storiografia sull’Italia repubblicana a Virginio Rognoni, il saggio ricostruisce il suo contributo nella lotta alla mafia in quel quinquennio drammatico (1978-1983) in cui fu chiamato alla carica di Ministro degli Interni

Rognoni e la lotta alla mafia

The article reconstructs Virginio Rognoni’s contribution to the fight against the mafia during the dramatic five-year period (1978-1983) in which he was called to the office of Minister of the Interior considering also the fact that perhaps historiography has attributed to him a marginal role.Anche sulla base della constatazione del ruolo forse troppo marginale attribuito ad oggi dalla storiografia sull’Italia repubblicana a Virginio Rognoni, il saggio ricostruisce il suo contributo nella lotta alla mafia in quel quinquennio drammatico (1978-1983) in cui fu chiamato alla carica di Ministro degli Interni

Transferring Violence? Mafia Killings in Nontraditional Areas

Violence is a key means used by organized crime to assert its control over territory and business. A widespread view is that violence is bound to take place also in the new territories where mafia groups migrate. In this article, we maintain that this view overlooks two important factors. First, criminal organizations acting in nontraditional areas face a structure of constraints and opportunities that do not generally favor the adoption of violence as a successful organizational strategy. Second, we show that violence, when it takes place, results from the transfer of conflicts that have their roots in the territories of origin of criminal groups. Local conditions play a mediating role in shaping violence in the new territories. We provide empirical support for these statements through the quantitative analysis of the violence perpetrated by mafia groups in Italy in the period between 1983 and 2013