The Italian Mafia: The Idealtypical Form of Organized Crime?
In this lecture Prof. Letizia Paoli focuses on the three main mafia-type criminal organizations active in Italy:
the Sicilian Cosa Nostra
the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta and
the Neapolitan camorra.
About the lecturer
Prof. Letizia Paoli, Professor of Criminology, University of Leuven.
Four traits characterize Cosa Nostra and the ’Ndrangheta: the organizations’ longevity; their organizational and cultural complexity; their claim to exercise a political dominion over their areas of settlement; their resulting ability to control legitimate markets.
Paoli demonstrates that several groups of the camorra only meet the latter two of the above-mentioned traits. After briefly summarizing government and societal anti-mafia actions from the early 1990s onwards, the title question will be answered, namely consider whether Italian mafia-type criminal organizations should or not be considered an idealtypical form of organized crime.