Abstract
This article attempts to demonstrate the relevance of both the cultural and structural dimensions of the Sacra Corona Unita, the Apulian Mafia. By assuming Sacra Corona Unita as a case study and by analysing its cultural components such as norms, rituals, self-representations the paper tries to identify a set of characteristics which connote Mafia-like organized crime as such.
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Notes
- 1.
Those aspects are particularly relevant in the Italian case, as I will try to show in this paper.
- 2.
I use the term Mafias (or Mafia-like organizations) to refer to the four main criminal organizations operating chiefly in Italy: Cosa Nostra, Camorra, ’Ndrangheta and SCU.
- 3.
This simplified representation of criminal organizations affected historical analyses as well. See Caracciolo 1992, whose hypothesis is that Italian Mafias (excluding SCU) should be the evolution of a Spanish secret association, dating back to the XV century, the rituals of which should have been imported to Italy by the three founders of Mafia, ’Ndrangheta and Camorra.
- 4.
Maxiprocesso is an Italian term used by the media to describe a trial where a large number of people are involved, generally members of Mafia-like groups.
- 5.
See Vv.Aa. (1994, p. 73). The secrecy code is much stricter in older organizations, such as Mafia or ʼNdrangheta. It was unusual that police were able to find copies of initiation code when arresting SCU members. We know (Gambetta 1996, p. 128) that the initiation rite of Cosa Nostra is much simpler than that of other Mafia-like criminal organizations, which implies a Mafioso may learn it by heart, so avoiding written reproductions.
- 6.
See Gambetta (1996, p. 128), who writes about the difficulty to admit the Mafia mythology, by referring to the case of Cosa Nostra: “Perhaps under the influence of conventional rationalism or Marxist prudery, some authors seam ill at ease when faced with the non rational and simply ignore the mythology, implicitly considering it as irrelevant, a mere drop of superstructural dressing. Substituting disbelief for disregard, other write off the symbolism as pure fantasy or, at the most, exaggerations by outsiders with a vested interest in inflating the phenomenon, notably journalists and policemen.”
- 7.
One of the pieces of evidence used by judges to demonstrate that SCU was a Mafia-like organization was the finding of manuscripts where the affiliation formulas had been transcribed. See Tribunale di Lecce (1991, p. 12), which reports the finding of a notebook where “all the formulas which had been handwritten, had to be followed during the initiation ceremony and in the passages-rituals from the lower to the higher ranks of the organization, according to a rigid and complex ritual made up of questions and answers.”
- 8.
See Gambetta, (1996, p. 115) who writes that the symbolic power of the association, in a way which is not dissimilar from marketing rules, makes the capability of intimidation of associates and groups stronger.
- 9.
A local newspaper, Quotidiano, 26th October 1994, reports about a group of criminals asking for protection money on behalf of SCU, without being associates. SCU is perceived as a brand, which may make the request for protection money successful since the brand enhances the intimidation power of the bribers. This necessity to promote a ‘brand’ makes the secrecy code difficult to handle: A Mafia-like organization needs to keep a balance between the secrecy of the organization and the necessity of a dosed leakage of information about its existence and dangerousness.
- 10.
Gambetta (1996, p. 128) shows that rituals, which are similar to those adopted by Mafia-like organizations are used in more socially accepted contexts (masonry, university, and colleges), and, although there are apparently irrational aspects about them, their existence is not called into question.
- 11.
- 12.
See Tribunale di Brindisi (1994, p. 56) where Cirfeta tells the judges the reason why a group of criminals decided to set up a new organization in Lecce (another important Apulian city) due to conflicts with the mother organization that could not be settled. The new group was denominated Rosa dei Venti (the Wind Rose), and, as Cirfeda stresses, although vindicating more autonomy, it considered itself and was still considered a ’ndrina (that is, an affiliated group) of the overall organization.
- 13.
The initiation ritual (also called baptism) has the symbolic value of a ritual strengthening of the mutual commitment among members, as well as of the authority of the organization, which may punish any deviance. Musio, one of the informers of the police, by describing the baptism in which he was initiated, says: “Everybody repeatedly reminded me that in case I was led astray, I would pay with my life” Tribunale di Brindisi (1991, p. 271).
- 14.
- 15.
Our analysis of codes and norms was clearly influenced by ethnomethodology (Garfinkel 1966). According to this approach, social rules are the product of the everyday effort of common people to make them plausible. In the case of SCU and other Mafia-like organizations, the question of power is relevant for the interpretation and the social construction of the normative apparatus.
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Longo, M. (2014). Mafia-Like Culture and Its Function in a Newly Formed Italian Criminal Organization. The Case of Sacra Corona Unita. 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_8
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