Violent Social Regulation : Organized Crime in the Italian South
| Published date | 01 June 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/096466399400300204 |
| Date | 01 June 1994 |
| Author | Raimondo Catanzaro |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
VIOLENT
SOCIAL
REGULATION :
ORGANIZED
CRIME
IN
THE
ITALIAN
SOUTH
RAIMONDO
CATANZARO
University
of Trento,
Italy
INTRODUCTION
HE
LAST
decade
has
seen
growing
alarm
in
Italy
over
the
increase
in
t
illegal
activities.
Inspection
of
the
figures
for
reported
offences
subject
to
-~.
criminal
proceedings
reveals
a
rise
in
homicides -
especially
in
the
three
or
four
Italian
regions
with
the
highest
rates
of
organized
crime
(Sicily,
Calabria,
Campania
and,
in
recent
years,
Puglia) -
and
also
an
increase
in
larceny,
embezzlement
and
crimes
against
the
state.
The
addresses
delivered
by
the
district
heads
of
the
Italian
magistracy
to
mark
the
opening
of
the
judicial
year
paint
an
increasingly
gloomy
picture.
In
1992,
moreover,
the
assassinations
in
Palermo
of
leading
politicians
(notably
the
European
parliamentary
deputy,
Lima)
and
magistrates
like
Falcone
and
Borsellino,
leaders
of
the
fight
against
the
Mafia,
increased
preoccupation
over
the
damage
that
the
presence
of
criminal
groups
could
wreak
in
Italy
and
Europe.
In
this
article,
I
shall
analyse
the
consequences
of
organized
crime
for
the
economy
and
politics
of
the
Italian
Mezzogiorno.
To
do
so,
I
shall
have
to
cla-
rify
the
nature
and
the
concrete
patterns
assumed
by
the
form
of
organized
crime
with
the
longest
tradition
and
the
deepest
geographical
roots:
the
Sicilian
Mafia.
SOCIAL
&
LEGAL
STUDIES
(SAGE,
London,
Thousand
Oaks
and
New
Delhi),
Vol.
3
(1994), 267-279
267
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