‘Ndrangheta in Lombardy: Culture and Organizational Structure

Abstract

This work aims at thoroughly studying a phenomenon that today is still not really discussed (i.e., the criminal organization called ‘Ndrangheta). We will particularly deal with the culture and organizational structure of this Mafia phenomenon and analyze its new territories of infiltration and domination (the region of Lombardy, in Northern Italy) after its migration from its original territory (the region of Calabria in Southern Italy). From the review of the existing literature on ‘Ndrangheta, we can actually point out that the contributions on the theme deal with the Mafia phenomenon, circumscribing it in its original territory, therefore mostly adopting a sociological and historical viewpoint. Up to today, nobody addressed ‘Ndrangheta outside these territorial boundaries and adopting a psychological viewpoint, which is the one this contribution starts from. In more specific terms, a text is analyzed, which is composed by the reports of the pre-trial detention order called Crimine-Infinito [Endless Crime], promoted by investigators in 2010 and so far one of the most relevant actions to fight against ‘Ndrangheta.

KEYWORDS:

• criminal organization
• culture
• ethnography
• Mafia
• ‘Ndrangheta
• organizational structure

Notes

¹Ground movement and trucks are the best tools to dispose of toxic waste inside abusive quarries and dumps, also as filling in the same works of construction or demolition and getting, this way, further relevant profits together with those produced by contracts. Building sites, thus, become the most suitable for this kind of illegal activity, often isolated with enclosures making it hardly controllable, with trucks that constantly go in and out with few controls to pass.

²Mayors resign in order to avoid dissolution for the Mafia.

³Group of three names the contrast of honor will always have to refer to.

⁴The cryptic and mysterious language is therefore also an additional reason for hard work during investigations, just because the variations of the Calabrian dialect are numerous and faceted. For this reason, as telephone and environmental tappings of “Crimine-Infinito” pointed out, police forces must often use Italian translations provided by people competent on the matter.

⁵“I have got eyes but cannot see, I am deaf and also dumb, I know God's law, but I always stay silent as a tomb.”

⁶“You are no man, you are nothing, you do not deserve to live, what an awful end is reserved to traitors, such as justice collaborators, kneaded in cement and then walled up. Repent for a pasta dish. Too many are the people alive and too few the dead ones.”

⁷Deconstruction is a phase of exploration where one looks for empirical material, relevant concepts or categories to report the observed phenomenon. “In the second (constructive) phase, one starts reaggregating in an original way the concepts developed in the previous phase, with the goal to compose a first coherent picture. The third phase (confirmation) aims at documenting/controlling the hypotheses emerged from the constructive phase and anchoring them to a theory” (Gobo 2001, 148). The purpose of this phase is choosing a central category of the study, which is then subject to systematic comparisons and connections with other categories.

⁸The Italian expression colletti bianchi derives from the English white collars, which indicates social classes formed by employees, State officers, shop assistants, and other professionals that, for the very nature of their job, can carry out their activity wearing light shirts and blouses, in opposition with workmen and other kinds of workers who must instead wear a darker shirt or blouse and, for this reason, are called colletti blu (blue collars). We thus speak of white-collar crimes when crimes are committed by this kinds of professionals. In short, speaking today of white collars means coping with the theme of the mixture between legal and criminal economy, which more and more often finds forms and places of peaceful coexistence (http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/colletti-bianchi/).

⁹Plain of Gioia Tauro.

¹⁰A careful reading points out, thus, that the Baptism rite (membership), unlike the one that is normally used, tries to powerfully instill the fear of death in the person who is being baptized, obsessively describing death episodes for betrayal of the association. In this case it is an apriori attempt to repair the organization, which cannot let chips, scales, doubts, uncertainties, or weaknesses exist.

¹¹In the language of ‘Ndrangheta, the endowment can be defined as “value, a quality given to a member, and the more this value increases, the more the endowment increases, since you go from a rank to another” (Gratteri and Nicaso 2008, 235).

¹²The Santa or Società Maggiore [Major Society] is, according to justice collaborators’ confessions, a criminal organization born in the mid-seventies. In order to form the Major Society inside a local, at least seven people are necessary with the rank of santista. The Santa has different rules from the ones ‘Ndrangheta is used to adopting. Who belongs to it can have contacts with non-members who pledged to other agenzie such as carabinieri, politicians, magistrates, and freemasonry. The consequence is that “infamy” does no more represent an insurmountable barrier, but can be overcome for the advantages the external contact network can ensure. The second element that characterizes the Santa is represented by the three chosen reference characters; no more the three knights Osso, Mastrosso and Carcagnosso, but historical men who are well known to the Italian cultural and political tradition: Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and Alfonso La Marmora. The choice of these men lies in the fact that they all belonged to freemasonry with top ranks (Gratteri and Nicaso 2008).

¹³The “Mafioso We” is not a fake “Self.” The fake “Self” implies the existence of a real “Self” the person is bearer of. Yet the “Mafioso We” is a “Non Self,” a non-singularity, if for “Self” we mean the category of subjectivity: “Does she say I am better than her? No, I’m not, I see myself in her and stand for our cause. I was grown this way and this way I will be until the end.” This is the way Trapani's Mafia Boss, Matteo Messina Denaro to Bernardo Provenzano, in a pizzino [message] found in his hideout in Corleone.