Aspects of the Imagery of Organized Crime

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to reconstruct central aspects of the organized crime imagery which continue to be visible in contemporary practices of securitizing organized crime. The organized crime narrative received important cultural imprints in 19th-century Italy and in the US of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In Italy it is mainly associated with various sociocultural narratives of the concept of ‘Mafia’ and the perceived origins and criminal activities of the Mafia in Sicily, the Camorra in Campania and the ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria. In the US, experiences and perceptions of mass immigration and the Italian diaspora in the US, as well as 19th-century US political corruption and the Prohibition period, were added, which have also constantly been mediated, commented on and transformed throughout their evolution by intensive media reporting and popular culture. This makes organized crime a rather complex, multifaceted threat image in its more implicit, associative dimension, while the explicit meaning of ‘organized’ ‘crime’ remains excessively broad. Importantly, the image is strongly interspersed not only with various historical anecdotes and myths but also with vivid representations of popular culture, cinematography and fiction.