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Organised Crime in Italy: The Italian Mafia

The Mafia in Italy

The precise origins of the term Mafia are believed by some to originate in the 19th century, while others

place it much further back in the history of Italy. Whatever the lexical origins of the term, organisedcrime has existed in Italy for over one hundred years and is today involved not only in common

criminal activities, but also has influence in the Italian government, the judiciary and the politicalsystem.

Mafia activities in Italy

The Italian Mafia is perhaps best known for its traditional criminal activities such as extortion andrunning protection rackets. Todays Mafia in Italy, however, has become much more sophisticated andhas diversified its portfolio of criminal activities. Drug dealing, smuggling, kidnap, people trafficking,

prostitution rackets, and the bribery of judges and politicians in Italy are all things that the Mafia dealswith. In recent years there have been reports of the younger generation of Mafia leaders in Italy tryingto diversify into white collar crime to make more money. Often, the profits of criminal activities carriedout by the Italian mafia are re invested in legitimate business enterprises. The Mafia in Italy constitutes

a formidable economic force which accounts for approximately 10% of Italys GDP. Annual turnover ofthe Italian Mafia is estimated at around 10 billion Euros.

Organised crime families in Italy

Although the original Mafia in Italy are from Sicily, the problem of organised crime in Italy issomething that affects the entire country. Today there are believed to be 4 or 5 main Mafia familiesoperating in Italy and in many cases with criminal enterprises spanning two or three continents. TheseMafia families in Italy have up to several thousand members. The main mafia groups in Italy areoutlined below.

The Sicilian Mafia in Italy

The Sicilian Mafia is the original mafia in Italy and dates back to the 19th century. The term Mafia isnot one that is actually used by members of this crime organisation in Italy. The term cosa nostra or ourthing is preferred by Sicilian mafia members. Like all mafia groups in Italy, the Sicilian Mafia operatesa code of honour and has a strict hierarchical structure. Recruits to the Mafia are sworn in to the familythrough secret ceremonies, after which point they become mafia members and are expected to stay sofor life. The Sicilian mafia is most famous to the outside world because of its branch in America whicharose out of mass migration from Sicily in the late 19th century. Inside Italy, The Sicilian mafia is

particularly known for its assassinations of high profile figures including police chiefs, judges andpoliticians.

The Naples Mafia in Italy

The power of the Naples mafia was recently attested to when in 2004 police were literally surroundedand made hostage by a whole neighbourhood when they tried to capture a leader of the Naples Mafia.The Naples Mafia in Italy is known as the Camorra. The origins of the Naples Mafia are believed todate back to the 19th century when it was formed as a prison gang. Over the years inmates werereleased and began to operate their criminal enterprises in and around Naples. Today there are believedto be about 7000 members of the Naples Mafia who operate in about 100 small families. The criminalactivities for which the Naples Mafia is most known are cigarette and drug smuggling as well ascounterfeiting.

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The Calabria Mafia in Italy

This mafia family in Italy is known as the 'Ndrangheta. The origins of this mafia group date back to the19th century when a group of Sicilians were expelled from Sicily by the newly formed unifiedgovernment. These Sicilians settled in the Calabria region and began to form small crime groups. Todaythe Calabria Mafia is believed to have about 6000 members who are particularly hard to infiltrate

because the organisation is based on blood ties and marriage.

The Puglia Mafia

The Puglia Mafia is known as Sacra Corona Unita or SCU which means the sacred united crown. This

is the newest of the Mafia groups in Italy and only became known in the 1980s. It is believed to haveoriginated as a prison gang whose inmates settled in the Puglia region upon release. This Mafia gang

collects money from other Mafia families in Italy for landing rights in south east Italy, which is alucrative enterprise because this is where all the smuggled goods and people from Eastern Europe aremost likely to land.

Non-Italian mafias

There is an increasing number of 'foreign' criminal organizations operating in Italy, such as ChineseTriads, Nigerian gangs and the Albanian mafia, of which the Albanians seem to be the most prominent.The Albanian gangs mainly operate in the more affluent northern and central parts of Italy such asLombardy and Tuscany. Since their arrival in the early 1990's the Albanians have establishedthemselves in prostitution and drug trafficking.

Italian crime in U.S. and other foreign countries

Those currently active in the United States are the Sicilian Mafia, Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia,'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia, and Sacra Corona Unita or "United Sacred Crown". The FBI refers tothem as "Italian Organized Crime" (IOC).

The FBI estimates the size of the four IOC groups to be approximately 25,000 members and 250,000affiliates worldwide. There are more than 3,000 members and affiliates in the United States scatteredmostly throughout the major cities in the Northeast, the Midwest, California, and the South. However,their largest presence centers around Boston, New York, northern New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Theircriminal activities are international with members and affiliates in Canada, South America, Australia,and parts of Europe. These organizations are also known to collaborate with other internationalorganized crime groups from all over the world.

There is a criminal organization in the French island of Corsica, which has been historically associated

with Italy rather than France, known as the Unione Corse. It is made up of criminals of Italian descent.

The major threat to American society posed by IOC groups centers around drug trafficking and money

laundering. IOC groups have been involved in heroin trafficking for decades. Two major investigationswhich targeted IOC drug trafficking in the 1980s are known as the "French Connection" and "PizzaConnection." These and other investigations have documented their cooperation in drug trafficking withother major drug trafficking organizations. IOC groups are also involved in illegal gambling, politicalcorruption, extortion, kidnapping, frauds, counterfeiting, infiltration of legitimate businesses, murders,

bombings, and weapons trafficking. Industry experts in Italy estimate that their worldwide criminalactivity is worth more than $100 billion annually.