Organised Crime in Italy: The Italian Mafia

The Mafia in Italy

The precise origins of the term Mafia are believed by some to originate in the 19th century, while others
place it much further back in the history of Italy. Whatever the lexical origins of the term, organised
crime has existed in Italy for over one hundred years and is today involved not only in common
criminal activities, but also has influence in the Italian  government, the judiciary and the political
system.

Mafia activities in Italy

The Italian Mafia is perhaps best known for its traditional criminal activities such as extortion and
running protection rackets. Today’s Mafia in Italy, however, has become much more sophisticated and
has diversified its portfolio of criminal activities. Drug dealing, smuggling, kidnap, people trafficking,
prostitution rackets, and the bribery of judges and politicians in Italy are all things that the Mafia deals
with. In recent years there have been reports of the younger generation of Mafia leaders in Italy trying
to diversify into white collar crime to make more money. Often, the profits of criminal activities carried
out by the Italian mafia are re invested in legitimate business enterprises. The Mafia in Italy constitutes
a formidable economic force which accounts for approximately 10% of Italy’s GDP. Annual turnover of
the Italian Mafia is estimated at around 10 billion Euros.

Organised crime families in Italy

Although the original Mafia in Italy are from Sicily, the problem of organised crime in Italy is
something that affects the entire country. Today there are believed to be 4 or 5 main Mafia families
operating in Italy and in many cases with criminal enterprises spanning two or three continents. These
Mafia families in Italy have up to several thousand members. The main mafia groups in Italy are
outlined below.

The Sicilian Mafia in Italy

The Sicilian Mafia is the original mafia in Italy and dates back to the 19th century. The term Mafia is
not one that is actually used by members of this crime organisation in Italy. The term cosa nostra or ‘our
thing’ is preferred by Sicilian mafia members. Like all mafia groups in Italy, the Sicilian Mafia operates
a code of honour and has a strict hierarchical structure. Recruits to the Mafia are sworn in to the family
through secret ceremonies, after which point they become mafia members and are expected to stay so
for life. The Sicilian mafia is most famous to the outside world because of its branch in America which
arose out of mass migration from Sicily in the late 19th century. Inside Italy, The Sicilian mafia is
particularly known for its assassinations of high profile figures including police chiefs, judges and
politicians.

The Naples Mafia in Italy

The power of the Naples mafia was recently attested to when in 2004 police were literally surrounded
and made hostage by a whole neighbourhood when they tried to capture a leader of the Naples Mafia.
The Naples Mafia in Italy is known as the Camorra. The origins of the Naples Mafia are believed to
date back to the 19th century when it was formed as a prison gang. Over the years inmates were
released and began to operate their criminal enterprises in and around Naples. Today there are believed
to be about 7000 members of the Naples Mafia who operate in about 100 small families. The criminal
activities for which the Naples Mafia is most known are cigarette and drug smuggling as well as
counterfeiting.
The Calabria Mafia in Italy

This mafia family in Italy is known as the 'Ndrangheta. The origins of this mafia group date back to the
19th century when a group of Sicilians were expelled from Sicily by the newly formed unified
government. These Sicilians settled in the Calabria region and began to form small crime groups. Today
the Calabria Mafia is believed to have about 6000 members who are particularly hard to infiltrate
because the organisation is based on blood ties and marriage.

The Puglia Mafia

The Puglia Mafia is known as Sacra Corona Unita or SCU which means the sacred united crown. This
is the newest of the Mafia groups in Italy and only became known in the 1980’s. It is believed to have
originated as a prison gang whose inmates settled in the Puglia region upon release. This Mafia gang
collects money from other Mafia families in Italy for landing rights in south east Italy, which is a
lucrative enterprise because this is where all the smuggled goods and people from Eastern Europe are
most likely to land.

Non-Italian mafias

There is an increasing number of 'foreign' criminal organizations operating in Italy, such as Chinese
Triads, Nigerian gangs and the Albanian mafia, of which the Albanians seem to be the most prominent.
The Albanian gangs mainly operate in the more affluent northern and central parts of Italy such as
Lombardy and Tuscany. Since their arrival in the early 1990's the Albanians have established
themselves in prostitution and drug trafficking.

Italian crime in U.S. and other foreign countries

Those currently active in the United States are the Sicilian Mafia, Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia,
'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia, and Sacra Corona Unita or "United Sacred Crown". The FBI refers to
them as "Italian Organized Crime" (IOC).

The FBI estimates the size of the four IOC groups to be approximately 25,000 members and 250,000
affiliates worldwide. There are more than 3,000 members and affiliates in the United States scattered
mostly throughout the major cities in the Northeast, the Midwest, California, and the South. However,
their largest presence centers around Boston, New York, northern New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Their
criminal activities are international with members and affiliates in Canada, South America, Australia,
and parts of Europe. These organizations are also known to collaborate with other international
organized crime groups from all over the world.

There is a criminal organization in the French island of Corsica, which has been historically associated
with Italy rather than France, known as the Unione Corse. It is made up of criminals of Italian descent.

The major threat to American society posed by IOC groups centers around drug trafficking and money
laundering. IOC groups have been involved in heroin trafficking for decades. Two major investigations
which targeted IOC drug trafficking in the 1980s are known as the "French Connection" and "Pizza
Connection." These and other investigations have documented their cooperation in drug trafficking with
other major drug trafficking organizations. IOC groups are also involved in illegal gambling, political
corruption, extortion, kidnapping, frauds, counterfeiting, infiltration of legitimate businesses, murders,
bombings, and weapons trafficking. Industry experts in Italy estimate that their worldwide criminal
activity is worth more than $100 billion annually.