Italian Mafias Across Europe: Types of Presence and Main Activities

• In Event: International and Transnational Crime and Justice

Abstract

The paper deals with the international expansion of Italian mafias through Europe. We use the concept of mafia to denote a form of organized crime that is capable of infiltrating the legal economy and politics, and offering protection. In the scientific literature, it is emphasized that the territorial expansion of mafia in non-traditional areas now affects broad swaths of Northern Italy, as well as areas outside the country. Accordingly, the paper aims to identify the factors that contribute to the mafia’s processes of international expansion, by distinguishing between agency and context factors. By following a case study approach, we will investigate mainly two topics: i) the different pattern of mafia presence abroad; ii) the way through which mafia members gain reputation in the expansion context. To this aim we will analyse in a comparative perspective the mafia presence in circumscribed area of several UE countries (e.g. Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, UK, Romania), as reconstructed from judicial sources and by semi-structured interviews. The main findings show that peculiar concatenation of mechanisms underpinning mafia’s movements affect the mafia’s presence abroad.

Authors

• Luca Storti, University of Turin - Italy

• Joselle Dagnes, University of Turin - Italy

• Davide Donatiello, University of Turin - Italy

• Rocco Sciarrone, University of Turin - Italy