Criminal connections

Abstract

Territoriality remains paramount to organized crime, and in a globalised economy the geography of crime expands exponentially. Local criminal organizations are presented with new international opportunities almost daily, as shown by the recent transformation of the Camorra. Over the last few years, the Neapolitan organization internationalised its dirty business by entering into joint ventures with the Chinese Triads operating in Italy. At the same time, in a globalised economy, competition from local organizations prevents the formation of international, centralized networks similar to Cosa Nostra’s twentieth-century monopoly on crime across the Atlantic, but encourages economic alliances. The new criminal model, therefore, revolves around business ventures between foreign and local crime. This is the paradigm followed by the n’drangheta.