NCJ Number
162044
Journal
Transnational Organized Crime Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1995) Pages: 151-172
Date Published
1995
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This overview of the transnational dimension of Italian organized crime identifies the major organized crime groups in Italy and reviews their activities in other countries and regions of the world.
Abstract
The three major organized crime groups in Italy -- Cosa Nostra (Sicily), the camorra (Campania), and the "ndrangheta" (Calabria) -- together with the relative newcomer, the United Holy Crown (Apulia), have undergone significant changes in recent years. This change has been caused by the need to keep pace with competition from Asian and Colombian crime groups in an international context of expanding criminal opportunities. Other influences are domestic pressures from law enforcement agencies, social marginalization, and the deterioration of a tolerant, sometimes collusive political class. Recent investigations show that international agreements that involve the three main Italian crime syndicates now tend to be made in common, as are arrangements for less traditional activities such as money laundering. By the mid 1990's, there were few regions of the world untouched by the Italian Mafia presence or influence. Although narcotics smuggling is the principal transnational activity for Italian organized crime, tobacco smuggling and arms trafficking have had an important role in expanding international operations and may even overlap. This study provides an overview of Italian organized crime's operations in Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Eastern Europe, Russia, Latin America, and North America. The study concludes that in the short term, continuing instability in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and in the CIS countries undermines the chances of defeating or even containing the expansion of transnational crime groups such as the Italian Mafia. 70 notes