Mafia and Civil Society: Economico-criminal Collusion and Territorial Control in Calabria

Abstract

Mafia style criminal organizations have long been present in many regions of southern Italy and continue to have a deep impact on the organization of local society in these areas. Despite their remarkable capacity for expansion beyond their original zones and their participation in large-scale trafficking (national and international), the “historical” Italian mafia remains characterized by its strong territorial roots. This is why it is important to study the mechanisms upon which this embeddedness, which is a particularity of the mafia compared to other criminal organizations, is constructed. Yet, in the vast literature on the mafia and related phenomena, there is little empirical research concerning the mechanisms through which the territorial control exerted by the mafia operates in a specific local society.