Abstract
The Calabrian version of the Mafia, the ’Ndrangheta, is a multifaceted phenomenon. It is a criminal system focused on economic and power accumulation through a highly organized system of criminal and non-criminal activities.
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Notes
- 1.
On a land of a little more than 15,000 km2 of extension, around 2 million inhabitants live with an average individual income € 4.000 less than the Italian one (€ 12.700 vs 17.028), the third-to last position of the Italian regions. The gross domestic product per capita is € 16.655 (the second last in Italy), about € 9.000 less than the national average (25.725); 8.1 % of the value added comes from industry, 7.1 % from real estate, 3.9 % from agriculture, and the remaining portion from the service sector (of a public type in particular). The total unemployment rate is 4 % points more than the national one (12.73 vs. 8.41 %); these data become even more impressive if only the young male or female population is considered (Istat data 2010-2011-2012 collected and elaborated by Unioncamere in the database available at http://www.unioncamere.gov.it/Atlante/).
- 2.
In 1991 the so called ’Ndrangheta war stops (an internal conflict of the ’ndrine of Reggio Calabria, that lasted more than 5 years starting in 1998, in which the powerful Imerti-Condello’s and De Stefano’s families were opposed—number of the deaths estimated at around 1,000 during those years). A state witness said that the reconciliation was fostered by Cosa Nostra that obtained in exchange of the murder of the judge Antonino Scopelliti, Supreme Court’s State prosecutor during the mass trial against Cosa Nostra (as mentioned in Ciconte, 1996, p. 150).
- 3.
“In the global spotlight, the drug traffic management still remains the prominent and most profitable criminal activity for the Calabrian Mafia organizations. These have strengthened the ability to maintain relationships with the South American narcos organizations and managed to put themselves among the most important in the control upon the cocaine’s import flows (Bolivia and Colombia upon all) and routes from the production places to Europe” (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia, Second semester 2007, p. 104).
- 4.
By considering the Mafias in general, for a long time, there was no knowledge about them as an organization, since many preferred identifying Mafiosi with people who shared cultural values and practices in a wide sense. sense (Sciarrone 2009). However, something has changed with the systematic use of the state’s witness who shed light over the inner nature of the Mafias organizations.
- 5.
The evidence brought by the three steps of the “Crimine” inquiry—carried out by the Reggio Calabria Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia (DDA) starting 2004—are particularly relevant to describe the current assets of the ’Ndrangheta.
- 6.
As a sample of that, this is an excerpt of the affiliation codes reported in a memory book of an ’Ndrangheta man, Serafino Castagna. As you can see, myths and affiliation practices are mixed together: “In the name of the organized and sacred society, I consecrate this place in the same way our ancestors Osso, Mastrosso, and Carcagnosso consecrated it, through irons and chains. I consecrate it through my faith and through my long words. If until now I used to know this place as an obscure one, since now I know it as a sacred, holy, and inviolable place, where it is possible to set and to dismantle this honored society.” “Thanks!” the others said together” (Castagna 1967, p. 33).
- 7.
Starting the 1970s, the ’Ndrangheta has come into contact with the Masonic lodges, particularly strong in the Calabria professional and political goods. Through this alliance, the ’Ndrangheta seeks full social legitimacy and a stronger integration in the economy and politics (see Forgione 2009, p. 25).
- 8.
In the autumn of 2012 two Cosenza county council members were arrested and charged with favoritism of a public service contractor owned by a boss settled in Rende, one of the most important towns in Calabria.
- 9.
The role of complacent physicians in lightening the type of punishment for bosses in jail is a crucial resource for the ’ndrine. In 2012, inquirers have discovered two private clinics in the Cosenza area where the bosses in jail used to go after the testifying by compliant physicians to be in a false state of mental illness (Badolati and Sabato 2012).
- 10.
This is what has emerged from the judicial operation called All inside 2 executed by the DDA of Reggio Calabria in 2010.
- 11.
Excerpt from a letter addressed to the Chief of the Procura dei minori di Reggio Calabria on August 23, 2011.
- 12.
- 13.
This person had excogitated a system to transfer ’Ndrangheta’s firms in the USA in order to hide capital in case of bankruptcy (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia Second semester 2011).
- 14.
With the 2004 Decollo investigation, a huge traffic of cocaine emerged that involved Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Colombia, United States, Australia, and Venezuela. During the police operation 5,000 kg of cocaine were confiscated. At the head of the organization was the powerful Mancuso ’ndrina, together with other families of the Reggio Calabria area and of the Ionic coast.
- 15.
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Parini, E. (2014). ’Ndrangheta. Multilevel Criminal System of Power and Economic Accumulation. In: Serenata, N. (eds) The ’Ndrangheta and Sacra Corona Unita. Studies of Organized Crime, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04930-4_4
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