Search results for "organised crime"

PROTOCOL: Organised crime groups: A systematic review of individual‐level risk factors related to recruitment

2019

Using network community detection to investigate psychological and social features of individuals condemned for mafia crimes

2018

Objective: Only few studies have investigated social and personality characteristics of members of Italian organized criminal groups: Mafia, Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta, and Sacra Corona Unita. This study aimed to explore the most relevant social and clinical features of Mafia criminals and their psychopathic traits. Method: The Psychopathy Check List-Revised (PCL-R) and a socio-demographic questionnaire were administered to 30 condemned for Mafia crimes and imprisoned in the “Pagliarelli” district prison of Palermo (Italy). The results were investigated applying the methods of Network Theory. Results: The study identified two communities, which were statistically different in terms of history of …

Resíduos sólidos e crime de poluição: avanços e retrocessos na legislação e na jurisprudência italianas

2020

O presente artigo apresenta a evolução normativa e jurisprudencial envolvendo crimes de poluição por resíduos sólidos na Itália, país que possui tradição no trato de condutas ilícitas ligadas à denominada Ecomáfia. A pesquisa foi orientada pelo método funcionalista e as técnicas de pesquisa utilizadas foram bibliográfica e jurisprudencial. Embora a evolução da legislação penal ambiental na Itália tenha focado mais a questão dos resíduos do que o Brasil, observam-se dificuldades em comum, como a deficiência na apuração dos crimes, a demora nos julgamentos com a consequente possibilidade de reconhecimento da prescrição e as falhas da legislação que permitem aos infratores evitar as condenaçõe…

Sanctions for Legal Entities in South American and European Systems of Corporate Criminal Liability

2021

The present analysis of sanctions for cases of liability of legal entities for crimes (corporate criminal liability) adopts a two-fold comparative perspective. First, it focuses on the sanctions provided by the laws of those legal systems, in South America, which introduced such liability, especially in the last two decades after the United Nations’ treaties on organized crime and corruption. Then, it continues with a parallel overview of sanctioning choices in those Member States of the European Union which opted for such liability. The analysis highlights similar and different approaches both in the two contexts and within each of them. Overall, a process of “weak harmonization” of sancti…

The Transformation of Female Roles in Cosa Nostra: A Diachronic and Comparative Analysis

2012

The chapter examines the transformation of the roles of women in Italian organized crime groups. Starting from a comparative analysis of the way in which – over time – the different manifestations of female power and male domination in certain organized crime groups (Cosa Nostra and others) have changed, we seek to understand what female power is in these contexts and what are the circumstances which make it legitimate and visible, what are the different modalities in which it expresses itself over time, in different locations and criminal contexts. The studies of women’s roles in mafias have shown how, over time, these have changed, particularly in terms of their ‘visibility’. Over the las…

Women and transnational organized crime: the ambiguous case of the italian Mafias

2022

This chapter examines the transformation of the roles of women in Italian organized crime groups. Starting from a comparative analysis of the way in which – over time – the different manifestations of female power and male domination in certain organized crime groups (Cosa Nostra and others) have changed, we seek to understand what female power is in these contexts and what are the circumstances which make it legitimate and visible, what are the different modalities in which it expresses itself over time, in different locations and criminal contexts. The studies of women’s roles in mafias have shown how, over time, these have changed, particularly in terms of their ‘visibility’. Over the la…

Un racconto allo specchio. la costruzione del mito mafioso attraverso le sue immagini

2009

Using now the cultural models, now those of organizational and structural theories, the Cosa Nostra studies risk sometimes to achieve results spoiled by approximation and partiality. If we want to deepen the research on the impact that the media representation of the mafia produces within the criminal context or in the social construction of the phenomenon, it is essential to use tools able to frame the issue in its complexity. With this background, the paper reviews some relevant cases which clearly show how information, literature, cinematography help to give shape and strength to criminal organization: from the journalistic investigations on the "Provenzano case”, to the television seria…

Proposal for a computer-assisted analysis of lawful interceptions of communication

2016

This paper presents the potential for the analysis of texts when applied to interceptions carried out with the help of next-generation software. In order to do this, after a brief explanation of some of the main procedures, the article presents the results of an investigation into text data extracted from wiretapping and in-person conversations found in judicial documents. The amount of data, obtained through wiretapping and the use of bugs, has made it possible to gather important information about the dynamics that characterise how criminal organisations work. The use of wiretaps and bugs are, therefore, vital tools without which it would undoubtedly not have been possible to achieve the …

The cost of protection racket in Sicily

2008

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the current cost of protection rackets in Sicily. By means of a database constructed on judicial evidence, it has been possible to come up with an estimate of the average and total costs of the protection-money system, as well as finding out in which sectors of economic activity and in which provinces is most pervasive. The average monthly payment is approximately 600 euros per business, with stronger effects in those areas with a relatively more traditional economic structure. As a whole, in monetary terms, the protection racket in Sicily accounts for over 1.4% of gross regional product. Finally, the paper supports the hypothesis that in most cases,…

Taking care of everyone’s business: interpreting Sicilian Mafia embedment through spatial network analysis

2022

Mafia-type organisations often have a strong geographical and cultural entrenchment in the territory they belong. However, their analysis as a spatially networked social structure is still missing. A combined socio-spatial network analysis is presented here, through the demise of a large police operation called Operazione Perseo in 2008. This approach is developed in two ways. At first, a visual representation of the social network of this large group of mafiosi embedded in a geographical space is presented. Three main salient territorial features of the network are thus highlighted. A high density of links in some neighbourhoods, as well as connections across different Mandamenti, the terr…