The Italian Mafia: The Idealtypical Form of Organized Crime?
In this lecture Prof. Letizia Paoli focuses on the three main mafia-type criminal organizations active in Italy:
the Sicilian Cosa Nostra
the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta and
the Neapolitan camorra.

Four traits characterize Cosa Nostra and the ’Ndrangheta: the organizations’ longevity; their organizational and cultural complexity; their claim to exercise a political dominion over their areas of settlement; their resulting ability to control legitimate markets.
Paoli demonstrates that several groups of the camorra only meet the latter two of the above-mentioned traits. After briefly summarizing government and societal anti-mafia actions from the early 1990s onwards, the title question will be answered, namely consider whether Italian mafia-type criminal organizations should or not be considered an idealtypical form of organized crime.
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