Abstract
This chapter aims at providing an overview of the history, characteristics, strategies, and modus operandi of the Sacra Corona Unita, a relatively new Mafia-type organization established in the southern part of Apulia, Italy. Defined since the mid 1990s by the Italian Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission as the “Fourth Mafia”—alongside the ’Ndrangheta, Camorra, and Cosa Nostra—the Sacra Corona Unita (SCU) consists of a conglomeration of various criminal groups, which became active between the late 1970s and early 1980s. The presence of close relationships with members of both the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta and Neapolitan Camorra played a crucial role in creating this new criminal syndicate. Its internal code of conduct, the so-called Statute (charter), as well as the extremely elaborate rituals for initiating new members and promoting members up through the various hierarchical ranks of the organization, strongly rely on old ’Ndrangheta traditions. This chapter will focus, from a comparative perspective, on a sociocultural analysis of rituals, rules, and codes of conduct adopted by the SCU, with special attention to the similarities and differences with the other traditional Mafia-type organizations. (A previous version of this chapter was published in Gribaudi (ed.), (Traffici criminali. Camorra, mafie e reti internazionali dell’illegalità, pp. 241–264, 2009). The Author would like to thank the publishing house Bollati Boringhieri who gave its permission to use parts of that publication for this chapter, although they were actually redrafted and updated).
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
These individuals were considered linked to Mafia organizations and were therefore ordered to relocate to regions distant from their original areas for the purpose of severing existing ties with their clans. In reality, these preventative measures were soon not only shown to be completely ineffective but, over the course of time, also had numerous adverse effects.
- 3.
The ’Ndrangheta is divided into basic units called ’ndrine, composed of one or more groups, deeply rooted on the local territorial level, whether a neighbourhood or a village. Each ’ndrina largely relies on blood ties between members. The biological family almost always overlaps with the criminal family and represents the cornerstone of the ’ndrina’s internal structure.
- 4.
Capobastone is the highest rank a ’Ndrangheta affiliate can achieve after having moved up through the internal hierarchy.
- 5.
- 6.
Regarding the ways the SCU came into contact with the environment of the ’Ndrangheta, and began borrowing codes, statues, and rituals, see Massari 1998.
- 7.
The hierarchical ranks present in the organization are indicated with dote or regalo (“endowment” or “gift”).
- 8.
The rituals of the Sacra Corona Unita, like those of the ’Ndrangheta, make frequent reference to the three Spanish knights (Osso, Mastrosso, and Carcagnosso) who, according to legend, were part of the secret Spanish society called Garduña, formed in Toledo in 1412. Other figures considered the founding fathers of the various levels of membership are: Conte Ugolino, Fiorentin di Russia, Cavalier di Spagna, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini, Alfonso La Marmora, Peppe Bono, Peppe Giusto, Peppe Ignazio, Carlo Magno, Cavour, and others (Massari 1998).
- 9.
The movimento refers to the ceremony in which an individual becomes a member, or a member is promoted to the various ranks in the organization.
- 10.
- 11.
This instruction is contained in point no. 9 of the Statuto della Sacra Corona Unita (Charter of the Sacra Corona Unita).
- 12.
A collaborator of justice from the Brindisi famiglia of the Sacra Corona Unita.
- 13.
Memoirs of the collaborator of justice Cosimo Capodieci, unpublished manuscript. The term “lupara bianca” refers to a killing where the body of the victim is deliberately hidden. The victim is usually strangled or suffocated and the body dissolved in acid. Although this practice is still in evidence in Sicily—where four cases were recorded in 2011—and in Calabria, it is mostly used during relatively calm phases, during which homicides can be planned far in advance.
- 14.
Author’s personal communication with the Chief Prosecutor of the DDA in Lecce (2012, July 5).
- 15.
For further information on the Sicilian criminal organization called Stidda, see Massari 2004.
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Massari, M. (2014). The Sacra Corona Unita: Origins, Characteristics, and Strategies. 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_7
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