NCJ Number
227715
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2009 Pages: 895-899
Date Published
July 2009
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study examined the characteristics of the murders perpetrated by the Sacra Corona Unita (a criminal organization operating in the Apulian territory of Italy) between 1980 and 2000.
Abstract
The focus of the study was 83 victims (77 males and 6 females) killed by the Sacra Corona Unita (SCU). Most of these victims were SCU members. Others were law enforcement officers and citizens caught in the crossfire of the killings of targeted SCU members. The male victims were mostly low-ranking SCU members; whereas most of the females were important, high-ranking SCU members. This gender-related pattern is not typical in mafia societies, suggesting a distinctive sociocultural context in the Apulian territory, which is a traditionally rural, farming area. The relatively high number of innocent victims among the member victims' friends and family reflected the generational change within the SCU and the predominance of new alliances that lacked the "honorable" values and ideals of the original SCU society. Firearms were used in almost all of the murders. Other new and distinctive elements of the murders that involved departures from mafia traditions were the frequent recourse to deception to lure victims, the involvement of people outside the criminal organization, the instrumental use of friendships, and the manner of the execution of the sentence. These departures from traditional mafia values reflected pervasive hostilities among the various clans within the SCU and a growing disrespect for the traditional rules of the criminal society. This disintegration of the SCU was also characterized by desertions of members who became police informants. 5 tables, 4 figures, and 14 references