Search results for "Extortion Racket"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
The Camorra and protection rackets: the cost to business
2016
Based on the observations from the judicial and investigative evidence provided by prosecutors in Camorra areas in Italy, this investigation provides an estimate of the economic impact of extortion racket to businesses. In particular, the estimates refer to the total and average withdrawal of monetary amounts from the businesses victimised by Camorra clans. Further insights are provided in terms of economic activities mostly victimised, and specifically the construction sector, which is subject to a different type of extortion racket.
How Mafia Works: An Analysis of the Extortion Racket System
2014
In this document, we present an analysis of quali-quantitative data on Extortion Rackets in Sicily. The second section provides an introduction to the interpretative framework on Extortion Racket Systems (ERSs). Therefore, the third section takes into account the methodological issues in the collection and analysis of data on extortions. The fourth and five sections offer an analysis on the types of extortion and the correspondent behaviour of the victims, followed by a focus on the process of extortion. An overview of the case-studies analysis on mafia-type organizations ends the document.
The economics of extortion: Theory and the case of the Sicilian Mafia
2023
This paper studies extortion of firms operating in legal sectors by a profit-maximizing criminal organization. We develop a simple taxation model under asymmetric information to find the Mafia optimal extortion as a function of firms’ observable characteristics, namely size and sector. We test the predictions of the model on a unique dataset on extortion in Sicily, the Italian region where the Sicilian Mafia, one of the most ancient criminal organizations, operates. In line with our theoretical model, our empirical findings show that extortion is strongly concave with respect to firm size and highly regressive. The percentage of profits appropriated by the Mafia ranges from 40% for small fi…
Mechanisms of the Embedding of Extortion Racket Systems: The case of Cosa Nostra
2017
The chapter summarises some of the research undertaken in the EU project GLODERS which is directed towards investigating the dynamics of extortion racket systems (ERS) of which the Sicilian Mafia is but one example (http://www.gloders.eu/). Before describing in more detail the principal formal characteristics of the Mafia-type organizations and the ways in which the extortion racket system works in a certain territory it is necessary to briefly outline what is a mafia-type organization and what we mean when we talk about the extortion racket system. The chapter propose an analysis of the mechanisms of the process of extortion in Sicily.