“We talk through our guns”. I was 8 when, passing by the headquarters of a mafia clan to reach my school, I heard this sentence. It’s a memory that periodically emerges from the depths of my mind, often in conjunction with one of the many acts of violence linked to the feuds among Neapolitan criminal cartels. It seems to be a clear and demonstrated truth: for instance, the war between local gangs Ascione – Papale and Birra – Iacomino killed 18 mobsters and wounded several people, between 2007 and 2008. The latter is one of the most recent mafia wars, and many examples are from that experience.
Wars and murders make many people think that weapons are the best means of communication for mafia groups, but that is incorrect. Actually, these organizations’ power is widely based on the ability to communicate to people, in various forms, their dominion over the territory, the capability to dispense life and death, success and failure, favours and punishments. “It is usually hard to find solid evidence about the power of communication”, Mario Morcellini, Professor and Director of the Department of Communication and Social Research at the University of Rome “Sapienza”, says. “On the contrary, when we see how criminal cartels use communication, this power appears to be crystal clear. They are enterprises, built on a communicative and symbolic dimension, and communication is the most valuable commodity they sell”.
These criminal organizations have extensive and articulated communication strategies, which mix traditional ways to communicate with new and technological ones. Guns, parts of animals delivered to intimidate people, Skype, and the radio, to name but a few. The cases of journalists Giancarlo Siani, killed 28 years ago by Neapolitan...
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...was the first to raise the alarm: “In our county, and particularly in Caserta area, there are dangers of criminal infiltration in the management of digital channels”, Corecom Chairman, Gianni Festa, and his deputy, Vincenzo Todaro, warned on May 7th, 2009.
I’m in a hurry. “I am sorry, I am in a hurry”. This is the answer, with some slight variations, I have heard in several interviews. Part of the work should have been focused on people feelings, being them recipients and victims of this communication. Armed with my digital recorder, I tried to interview several people. When I told interviewees the topic, they quickly fled. Given up the recorder, I tried again. Same result. “You got the answer you were looking for”, a friend of mine said. How to deny it? These reactions have shown, better than any declaration, the truth: “criminal communication” is really effective.
Organized crime in the United States keeps the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in a never-ending investigation of criminals suspected of the infiltration of legitimate businesses. A notorious twentieth century organized group was the New England Patriarca Mafia, or N.E.P.M.. Originating in 1915, the N.E.P.M. evolved over the early twentieth century decades, until 1954 when Raymond Loredo Salvatore Patriarca was donned as boss* and promptly began to expand its power. Due to mafia-related language that will be present throughout the paper, a page of definitions is supplied at the end of the paper. Defined words throughout the paper will be noted with an asterisk, “ * ”.
South, David. The History of Organized Crime: Secrets of The World’s Most Notorious Gangs. New York: Metro Books, 2013. Print.
Firstly, “criminal behavior must be learned through interaction with other persons in the process of communication” (Gongenvare & Dotter, 2007, 384). Furthermore, the idea of communication is broken down into two forms, verbal and gestures. Sutherland indicates that through gestures the conversation elicits a stimuli that allows for response from each individual, by analyzing these responses can indicate attitudes towards the topic or object.
... Mafia, had helped criminals obstruct the justice system (10,13). It was claimed to be “impossible to get a jury of men courageous enough to try criminals” because of their power and ruthlessness (10,14). This prevented any violent criminals from being incarcerated and kept many of them on the streets to keep creating violence. Crime groups such as the Mafia run by Torrio controlled elections for their benefit, like in Cicero in April 1924, where gunman and mafia members stood outside election ballots to intimidate the voters (11,909). Criminals such as Dion O’banion, an Irish bootlegger, were treated as celebrities. When O’banion died in 1924, his funeral was attended by nearly 20,000 mourners (12,137). It was clear that due to the power and wealth that the illegal smuggling had given criminals, law and order was certainly at the mercy of organized crime (12,137).
more clearer when put in the light of an analysis of how the mafia enterprise
Williams, Phil. “How Serious a Threat is Russian Organized Crime?.” Introduction. Russian Organized Crime: The New Threat?. Ed. Phil Williams. London: Frank Class, 1997. 1-28.
Criminal justice through “moral panic” is “a condition, episode, person or groups of person emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion by the mass media; the moral barricades are managed by editors, bishops, politicians, and other right-thinking people; socially accredited experts pronounce their diagnoses and solutions; ways of coping are evolved or (more often) resorted to; the condition then disappears, submerges or deteriorates and become more visible.” (Kraska, 2004) Thus by creating this moral panic, which is an emotion, by involves media, government officials, public, politicians and interested parties that exaggerate the problem from how big the problem really is. “The idea of emotion as a kind of cognitive shortcut explains why jurors, like children are more likely to make emotional judgments than judges.” (Bandes, 311, 1999) Society alone has many emotions towards criminals and victims ranging from hate, anger, fear towards ...
In conclusion, currently the Sicilian mafia is far weaker than it had been in prior decades. Mostly due to the government crackdowns on high profile mafia captains. The state of government especially in terms of local government and politics is where mafia elements are particularly active and exert influence in order to further their agendas. To this day we can see that the sole reason for the continued existence of the mafia within Sicily is the administrative shortcomings of an inefficient governmental structure which either cannot or will not fills the needs of the citizenry. We can infer that the best way to combat and eventual try to eliminate mafia influence in the Sicilian context is to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of government to the needs of their people.
The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America, can be analyzed through three works: “Modern Theories of Criminality” by C.B. de Quirόs, “Broken Windows” by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling and “Social Structure and Anomie” by Robert K. Merton.
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
To be able to appreciate the magnitude of the problem, it is important to first determine what the issue is all about. This paper is going to analyze this issue developing recommendations on how to combat the crime in the United States. This will be achieved by discussing the nature of this issue, who the victims are and the current legislation on the pro...
This idea of attitudes shows why a secret society such as the Mafia should luxuriate in Sicily, and could easily be transplanted into the ghettos of the New World. The associates of the Mafia are called fratellos. They are to obey a capo, which they elect. The capo then picks the consigliari (counselors), whom help him to make justice and judgments. When one of the fratellos finds himself in any sort of difficulty, the association tries to help and assist him.
The era of Don Carlo, which lasted from 1957-1976, was enormously prosperous for the Gambino Crime Family. At the beginning of his rule he, and many other crime families, ran into a pretty large roadblock. As Gambino was being sworn in as leader of the Cosa Nostra, President Elect John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a man who had “sworn to destroy people like him and rid the nation of the scourge of organized crime” had also been sworn in”(Davis 87). The Kennedy brothers, with Robert as head of the McClellan Committee, was the first time that the executive branch of the government directly went after organized crime. Before Kennedy, presidents had even been opposed to going after the mob Harry Truman and Eisenhower discouraged hearings like Kefauver’s to proceed. Another huge obstacle to the federal investigation of the Cosa Nostra lay directly at the feet of corrupt FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. He obtusely denied the existence of the Mafia and was reported to call the reports of its existence “baloney” (Davis 87). Eventually, after overwhelming evidence, Hoover was convinced there was a problem and organized crime was the reason for it. President JFK’s brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy instituted the world’s largest attack on organized crime in all of history. He drew up a list of the top targets, forty in all, and went on his way. After the first year of his war on organized crime, Bobby Kennedy indicted 121 mob defendants and had 73 convictions. By 1963 there was 615 indicted and 288 convictions. One of the most long-lasting tactics that were introduced during Kennedy’s campaign, was the use of bugs and other listening devices in the homes, favored clubs, and hideouts of the mobsters. Electronic surveillance was a new resource an...
The media today is often taken for granted; as people don’t realize the dominance the media source holds in the modern world. Through media sources such as newspaper, TV and social media crime could be easily spread through out the world within seconds. As a result of this, humans understanding of crime and crime control are largely relied upon the media as evidently most people will not be in those serious criminal situations. The media however takes advantage of this situation by exaggerating crime scenes and focusing on particular crimes to make the public fear. Particular groups in the media are stereotyped to an extent where the public foresees then as ‘dangerous’. As a consequence, a change in the public’s perception of crime has forced
With the world changing and advancing with technology, criminal organizations are taking advantage of new opportunities. The advancement of travel, ease of communication, and an increase in demand, has all contributed to the globalization of crime. Every nation has been affected by the globalization of crime and the problem continues to grow.