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Case$study:"The"Sicilian'Mafia! This paper seeks to provide a case study of an infamous criminal organization, The Cosa Nostra, known as the oldest and most traditional mafia group in Italy. A criminal organization, as defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “an organised criminal group shall mean a structured group of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences…” (UNODC, 2000). The Cosa Nostra can be catalogued within a wider network of organized criminal groups, known as the Italian Mafia. The group’s structure, intentions, impact and modern day context shall be discussed throughout this case study, providing insight to the group itself. Background: The formation of the Sicilian Mafia, known by it’s members as The Cosa Nostra, can be traced back to the 19th Century (Lewis 1964). It was at this time that Italy was transitioning from feudalism, drastically effecting social structure and functioning. The dissolving of Feudal Italy disrupted previous practices surrounding land ownership and agriculture. Previously, absent aristocratic landowners would rent their farms to the bourgeoisie, known as “gabellotti” (Del Monte and Pennacchio 2012). These men would tend to the estate as well as employ local peasants to work and live on the land for low wages (Graziano 1973). This relationship represents the general interdependence of social groups at this time. Post-feudal Italy intended to restrict the power of the landowning aristocracy by encouraging the emancipation of peasantry as well as a radical redistribution of property (Blok 1974). This redistribution of land significantly increased the number of landowners, with 2,000 in 1812, to 20,000 in 1861 (Bandiera 2003), resulting in an increase in disputes and contracts that needed to be resolved and overseen. Furthermore, this increased the dependency of peasants, as new private owners meant they no longer had the same access to agricultural work as they did through the gabellotti (Blok 1972). This effectively increased the disparity in social class at the time, making the aristocratic and bourgeoisie more powerful and the proletariat more vulnerable and likely to turn to criminal behaviour.

Word Count: 2682 In addition to the aforementioned systematic Government changes Southern Italy was experiencing at the time, the ever-changing Government authority deserves consideration when examining formation of criminal groups. Sicily’s geographical location made it vulnerable to invasion, and so experienced frequent changes in power (Takayama 1993). The forced acceptance of arrogation of power caused societal resentment towards central governance and law enforcement. Following the Italian Revolution, this resentment manifested itself in increased criminal behaviours. Bandits took over large rural areas of Sicily, subsequently exposing a need for private law enforcement, with local law enforcement proving to be inefficient in dealing with the increased criminal activity. The role of the gabellotti evolved to meet this need, the transition of the gabellotti into a corrupt and intimidating group, as they began to engage in exploitative methods to increase profits, This is evocative of what is now known as the Sicilian Mafia (Dimico, Isopi and Olsson 2012). This series of consequential social changes provided the ideal environment for criminal organisations such as the Sicilian mafia to prosper. Italy’s aforementioned social environment, resulting in increased criminal activity is one that can be expressly defined through criminological theory. Strain theory in particular, explains the emergence of anti-social and unlawful behaviours as a direct result of societal stress or strain. In a Sicilian context, the constant change in government authority, combined with the emergence of outlaw groups whose activities could not be inhibited by local law enforcement resulted in extreme social and economic stress (Agnew 2001). This theory helps to explain the outcome of individuals becoming aware of the disparity in their own social and economic goals compared to reality (Merton 1964). Network structure: The Cosa Nostra is structured identically to that of its Italian mafia counterparts. There is a clear division of labour and strict roles. The group is comprised of hundreds of individual mafia groups known as ‘families’ or ‘clans’, all of which are overseen by a unified internal command, ‘Cupola’ (Paoli 2002). The groups’ unified command can also be referred to as The Sicilian Mafia Commission or a “mafia council”. This commission is comprised of leading mafia members, who are representatives of their respective territories. Together they help determine the

Word Count: 2682 Sicilian Mafia’s criminal tactics, regulate the use of extreme violence, as well as resolving internal disputes between clans (Haller 1992). Contrary to popular belief, the Sicilian mafia is not led by one form of centralised command; instead, there are various forms; members in differing roles, who work together to represent a unitary authority (Teubner 1994). As visually represented in fig. 1, individual crime families are lead day to day by ‘capofamiglia’, loosely translated to, ‘head of the family’ or ‘boss’. A boss generally has complete power over members in the crime family who fall under his command, and so, the authority to promote, demote and exert discipline over their subordinates (Giordano and Lo Verso 2015). Notable infamous family bosses, popularized by the media are Calogero Vizzini, Salvatore Riina, and Bernardo Provenzano, known for their exceptional influence in their respective years in command. Each crime family boss has a direct confidant, known as a ‘consigliere’, which translates to ‘advisor’. In some families, the ‘consigliere’ fills the role of the family boss’ right hand man. Although, generally speaking, their role is to advise, as well as supervise the boss’ activities, particularly in a financial sense, to prevent the embezzlement of family money (Garcia 2009). Despite being advisor to the boss, the consigliere does not have any subordinates. Second in command is known as the underboss, or ‘capo bastone’, whose role is to ensure profits from criminal activities are directed to the boss, as well as oversee the actions of their subordinates (Garcia 2009). The underboss is followed by one or multiple ‘caporegime’, translated to ‘captain of 10’. This name refers to the caporegime’s subordinates, historically comprised of 10 soldiers, who carry out family interests. In modern times however, the number of soldiers in a clan is determined by the size and the caporegime’s ability to oversee. Lastly, there are various associates, who work for the family, and share in the execution of criminal activities with soldiers.

Admission to the Cosa Nostra requires very particular recruitment methods, based on kinship and other cultural factors. Some clans only recruit those with whom they have immediate genetic relationships (Teubner 1994). This tactic ensures a high level of loyalty and commitment to the group, as members who wish to betray the clan also betray their own family. This represents the clan leveraging family members to safeguard their illicit activities.

Word Count: 2682 Fig. 1

Modus Operandi: To better understand the workings and criminal involvement of The Cosa Nostra, the modus operandi of the group must be considered and discussed. This here refers to the groups’ specific and unique style in relation to their criminal activity. The Cosa Nostra’s modus operandi is reactively unique in comparison to other Mafia groups, in that they did not have an expansion strategy. They had not transplanted their organization internationally, instead their organisation’s profits and reputation were primarily determined by their local territory (Hagan 1983). However, in the 1920’s, they successfully expanded to The United States, through individual members developing an “American branch” of the Sicilian Mafia (Anderson 1965). Similar to other Mafia groups, the Cosa Nostra also operates within transnational criminal markets, predominantly involving drug and human trafficking. These international criminal activities are monitored by ‘brokers, who represent the Mafia on a transnational level (Scaglione 2016). Brokers utilize the reputation of the Sicilian Mafia in Italy, in order to establish ties with other international criminal groups. These ties enable them to enter the country’s illicit markets, engaging in drug distribution, as well as some legitimate investments to facilitate money laundering (Scaglione 2016).

Word Count: 2682 Criminal Involvement: The group’s main areas of criminal involvement manifest itself in both licit and illicit markets. In terms of illicit markets, the Cosa Nostra, as aforementioned, mainly engaged in human trafficking as well as drug manufacturing and trafficking. In the 1970s, the group was involved in a high caliber of the drug trafficking market, specifically heroin (Paoli 2004). The involvement in heroin represents the interests of the Mafia commission, deeming it to be the most profitable drug at the time, with morphine bought from Turkey and refined in Sicily. Soon, Sicily was home to the biggest heroin refinery in the western world, supplying an estimated 80% of the US market (Paoli 2004) With the change in time and subsequently, the drug market, the Sicilian Mafia has now shifted to meet market demands, trafficking cocaine, which is more profitable in the modern day drug market.

Infiltration of licit markets marks an important factor in maintaining localized power. For example, research has indicated that as a result of Anti-Mafia investigations, the corruption of government sectors has been confirmed. The Cosa Nostra having somewhat infiltrated the construction sector in Italy, enabling Mafia influence and to an extent arrogate the industry (Scaglione 2016). This presents potential misuses of government finances, due to particular industries in some cases, being driven by Mafia interest. It is then feasible that at particular points in time, Mafia members have directly guided government activity to further support their criminal activities. To this day some Italian public officials have maintained ties with organized crime groups, continuing to diminish public trust in local government.

Impact: The impact of The Cosa Nostra can be subcategorized into three major classifications. Firstly, the organizations impact on their immediate community, secondly, the impact on their local government, broadly defining the ways in which they have successfully corrupted particular government entities (Arlacchi 1996), Lastly, the impact of the group’s international criminal presence. The Cosa Nostra’s impact in their local community has evolved over time (Bandiera 2003). Initially, Mafia served as a means of protection of land and other economic facets. Soon, as the Mafia began to

Word Count: 2682 characterize themselves and their activities with the use of extreme violence and extortion, they began to instill large amounts of fear in local businesses and communities (Blok 1974). These businesses were often forced into criminal activity in exchange for immunity from Mafia violence. The organization also penetrated local governments sectors, again using extreme violence and funding to aid their corruption (Scaglione 2016).

The migration of the Sicilian Mafia in the 1920s to the United States, gave rise to the formation of the American Mafia, whose power was most influential in New York City. It was around this time that prohibition was introduced, giving the Mafia the ability to engage in an extremely profitable criminal market, whereby they engaged in the bootlegging and selling of alcohol (Demleitner 1994). The illegal alcohol trade was the most lucrative criminal market the Mafia had ever seen. However, this immense wealth brought major territory disputes and gang rivalries, attracting the attention of law enforcement. By the 1970s, the Mafia were heavily involved in several government sectors. For example, one of their most successful government sector schemes was the Mafia led gas-tax fraud scheme. This allowed the mafia to keep money they owed in taxes relating to the selling of petroleum, this allowed them to sell gas at extremely low prices, stealing over $290 million in gasoline taxes (Moore Jr 1995). Government and Law enforcement response: Initial Government and Law enforcement responses in post-feudal Italy, following the formation of the Sicilian Mafia, were fairly limited and unsuccessful (Bandiera 2003). In the 1960s, a then stronger government established the Anti-mafia commission. The commission was tasked with the collecting of intelligence and investigating the activities of the Sicilian Mafia, later expanding to cover all Mafia groups operating within Italy, including the Camorra, the Sacra Corona Units and the ‘Ndrangheta (Jamieson 1999). Since the formation of this specific Mafia commission, Italy’s approach to counter Mafia activity is largely determined by the specific threat in question. For example, the government has expanded investigative powers given to authorities, allowing the questioning of family and friends, as well as the ability to confiscate Mafia assets for government use (Paoli 2007). In terms of legislation, the

Word Count: 2682 individualized nature of each Mafia member’s involvement in specific criminal activities, pose issues when prosecuting. Specific legislation has since been introduced in order to streamline prosecution of Mafia members (Paoli 2007). Furthermore, other modern law enforcement approaches focus on the prevention of future mafia activities. This includes strengthened policy, such as harsher penalties for those convicted of Mafia involvement, including life sentencing. Other strengthened policies mainly consist of law enforcement sanctioning, addressing civil and public administrations, as well the dissolving of all local sectors that have been infiltrated by the Mafia (La Spina and Paoli 2014). Globally, the United Nations convention against transnational organized crime provides a holistic and standardized international approach to disrupt organized criminal groups (UNODC, 2000). However, legislation originating in the United States has also been a vital law enforcement response, with the introduction of specific mafia-based legislation such as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act). This Act was specifically designed to counter ItalianAmerican Mafia activities. In order to convict under the RICO act, members must be proved to have been involved at least two cases of racketeering (Abrams, Beale and Klein 1986). It has been argued that the RICO act is the most efficient form of organized crime legislation to date. However, in an international context, research suggests that mafia groups are taking advantage of the lack of uniformity in European legislation, allowing the group to hide their criminal activities between jurisdictions (Dalla Pellegrina and Masciandaro 2009). Therefore, mafia groups operate and continue to profitable within criminal markets in countries whereby legislation is not as solid, or aimed at preventing organized criminal activities. As a direct result of the aforementioned law enforcement strategies, the Cosa Nostra’s government involvement has generally ceased. Updated legislation has proved to be more successful in countering organized crime (Paoli 2007). Many key Mafia members have since been incarcerated, as well as the seizure of their multiple estates (Pinotti 2015). Since imprisonment, many key Mafia actors have offered their cooperation and divulging of Mafia information in exchange for lesser sentences, or in terms of life sentences, more desirable prison environments (Akerlof and Yellen 1994). Due to this cooperation between mafia members and law enforcement, many

Word Count: 2682 large scale drug trafficking operations. This demonstrates the weaknesses associated with the complex structure of the organization. The incorporation of multiple associates, including locals, who have little loyalty to the group, increases the likelihood of cooperation with law enforcement (Cayli 2010).

The Cosa Nostra Today: Today, the Cosa Nostra holds a differing level of status in terms of reputation as well as power. Over the past three decades, law enforcement has maintained focus on Mafia groups, and with the absence of government support and infiltration, the Sicilian Mafia no longer peacefully co-exists with that of the government. Consequently, many of the higher-ranking bosses have been incarcerated, commonly referred to as the ‘Kingpin strategy’; whereby authoritative figures are targeted in order to breakdown the criminal groups from the top down (Jones 2013). However, research shows these bosses continue to operate the organization from inside prison walls continuing to engage in drug and human trafficking, extortion and robberies (Berlusconi 2014). Regardless, these law enforcement tactics have severely impacted their criminal operations within Italy. The Sicilian Mafia is far more powerful in The United States than in Italy at the present time. The organization maintains powerful ties with criminal organizations such as the Yakuza and other Italian Mafia groups such as the ‘Ndrangheta and the Camorra, enabling their continued involvement in the criminal market (Dickie 2013). Currently, the most profitable source of criminal activity is extortion and money laundering The recent arrest of an international broker, uncovered the Cosa Nostra’s involvement in a large drug trafficking operation, between the US and Europe. The broker in question, admitted to laundering an estimated $1.5 billion in relation to this trafficking operation (Cassara 2015). Irrefutably, the Sicilian Mafia remains serious a threat to national security, as outlined by Europol (Europol 2011).

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