‘Familiness’ diversification: recognition, reputation and intergenerational changes in cross-border mafia-type families.

• In Event: WG Organized Crime and Criminal Networks Panel 2. Organized crime groups

Abstract

Mafia-type families, envisioned as career criminal dynasties or family-based criminal organisations, are shaped by reputation within circles of recognition, both internal and external to the family. In Australia, mafia-type families or dynasties connected to the Calabrian ‘ndrangheta or of Italian origins have been successful at exploiting criminal opportunities across generations and places also thanks to their recognition and reputation. Their familiness influences both their reputation and their business, as well as impacting on their diversification. In this article we explore how mafia-type families or dynasties experience familiness diversification, including intergenerational changes, transculturation and external factors, and how this relates to their recognition in the underworld, by other criminal groups as well as by law enforcement. Based on document analysis and interviews, and building on a new analytical framework, we present four ideal-types mafia-type families in Australia. This is the first study that considers how mafia organisations evolve in their most nuclear forms and the implications of such evolution for the individuals involved.

Author

• Anna Sergi, University of Essex