Varese Mafias on the Move

How Organized Crime Conquers New Territories
Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-3672-7
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 288 Seiten

"A compelling read and an impeccable work of reference."—John le Carré

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West.

As Federico Varese explains in this compelling and daring book, the truth is more complicated. Varese has spent years researching mafia groups in Italy, Russia, the United States, and China, and argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonize new territories. Once there, they do not always succeed in establishing themselves. Varese spells out the conditions that lead to their long-term success, namely sudden market expansion that is neither exploited by local rivals nor blocked by authorities. Ultimately the inability of the state to govern economic transformations gives mafias their opportunity.

In a series of matched comparisons, Varese charts the attempts of the Calabrese 'Ndrangheta to move to the north of Italy, and shows how the Sicilian mafia expanded to early twentieth-century New York, but failed around the same time to find a niche in Argentina. He explains why the Russian mafia failed to penetrate Rome but succeeded in Hungary. In a pioneering chapter on China, he examines the challenges that triads from Taiwan and Hong Kong find in branching out to the mainland. Based on ground-breaking field work and filled with dramatic stories, this book is both a compelling read and a sober assessment of the risks posed by globalization and immigration for the spread of mafias.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Varese, Federico

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kriminalsoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten
• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Kriminologie, Strafverfolgung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments vii

Chapter One: Introduction 1

Chapter Two: Mafia Transplantation 13

Chapter Three: The 'Ndrangheta in Piedmont and Veneto 31

Chapter Four: The Russian Mafia in Rome and Budapest 65

Chapter Five: Lessons from the Past: Sicilian Mafiosi in New York City and Rosario, circa 1880-1940 101

Chapter Six: The Future of the Mafias? Foreign Triads in China 146

Chapter Seven: Mafia Origins, Transplantation, and the Paradoxes of Democracy 188

Notes 203

References 237

Index 263

Über Autor(innen)

Federico Varese is professor of criminology at the University of Oxford. He is the author of The Russian Mafia and editor of Organized Crime.