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How Mafias Migrate: The Case of the `Ndrangheta in Northern Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Federico Varese
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Abstract

What are the conditions conducive to long-term transplantation of mafia groups in new territories? This article systematically reviews a number of factors that facilitate such an outcome and then explores two attempts at transplantation by members of the Calabria-based mafia group `Ndrangheta to the town of Bardonecchia (Piedmont region) and to Verona (Veneto region). While the former case was successful, the latter failed. The article concludes that features of the local economy—the presence of significant sectors of the economy unprotected by the state and a local rather than export orientation—generate a demand for criminal protection, and successful transplantation occurs in the presence of such a demand. Generalized migration or forced resettlement of mafiosi are not sufficient to predict transplantation. The article shows that a high level of interpersonal trust among local law-abiding residents is not sufficient to hinder mafia transplantation, contrary to established theories of social capital and trust.

Type
Articles of General Interest
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 411 - 444
Copyright
© 2006 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

Many people and institutions facilitated the collection of data for this article: the editors of La Luna Nuova granted me access to their archive, the staff of the Library of the Camera di Commercio di Ferrara retrieved several volumes of the Italian census, and staff of the Sona (Verona) city library helped me obtain a hard-to-find publication. Journalists from L'Arena were kind enough to answer my questions. Frank Heins has provided me with tables from the 1971 and 1991 Italian census that do not appear in the printed version. I am indebted for comments on an earlier version of this article to Nina Diamond, Mark Galeotti, Diego Gambetta, Aditi Gowri, Peter Hill, Jim Nolan, Avner Offer, Susan Rose-Ackerman, Marc Stears, Damian Tambini, Richard Young, and Aidan Wilcox. I am especially thankful to a member of the editorial board, the Editor, and three anonymous referees for their insightful comments and constructive suggestions.

References

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