Università Roma Tre

Discussion topics will include both mafia wars, the importance of investigators Falcone and Borsellino, the Maxi Trial, and the anti-mafia state organizations, from their origins to their role today in the struggle against organized crime. The course will highlight the creation of the International Department against Mafia and legislation developed specifically to aid in the fight against criminal organizations. It will examine the ties between Cosa Nostra and Italian politics, the period of terrorist attacks, and response of the Italian government.

By the end of the course students will be able to:

• Examine the complexity of social structures related to Organized Crime;
• Analyze the cultural and social background of Cosa Nostra
• Describe the relation between Cosa Nostra, cultural values and the Italian political system;
• Define how the phenomena conditioned the development of democracy in Italy;
• Identify how the reality of criminal organizations differs from common stereotypes on Italian Mafia

REQUIRED AND SUGGESTED READINGS:

• Anita Lavorgna and Anna Sergi, “Types of organized crime in Italy. The multifaceted spectrum of Italian criminal associations
and their different attitudes in the financial crisis and in the use of Internet technology”, in International Journal of Law, Crime
and Justice, N° XX (2013).
• John Dickie, Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2004).
• “Giuseppe Impastato: his actions, his murder, the investigation and the cover up,” Centro Siciliano di Documentazione
"Giuseppe Impastato".
• Letizia Paoli, Mafia Brotherhoods. Organized Crime, Italian Style, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
• Letizia Paoli, “Mafia and organised crime in Italy: The unacknowledged successes of law enforcement” in West European
Politics Vol. 30, No. 4, (2007,).
• Paul Ginsborg, “Corruption and the Mafia” in: Italy and its discontents (London: Penguin, 2001).
• Francesco Calderoni, “Where is the mafia in Italy? Measuring the presence of the mafia across Italian provinces” in Global
Crime, Vol. 12, No. 1, (2011)..
• Francesco Calderoni, Strategic positioning in mafia networks, working paper provided by the Instructor.
• Roberto Saviano, Gomorrah, (Milan: Mondadori, 2006).
• Letizia Paoli, “Italian Organised Crime: Mafia Associations and Criminal Enterprises” in Global Crime, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2004)
• Federico Varese, “Mafia movements: a framework for understanding the mobility of mafia groups” in Global Crime, Vol.
12, No. 3 (2011).
• Francesco Calderoni, “Strategic positioning in mafia networks”, working paper provided by the Instructor

FILMOGRAPHY:

• The Godfather, director Francis Ford Coppola
• Donnie Brasco, director Mike Newell
• The 100 Steps, director Marco Tullio Giordana
• Excellent Cadavers, director Ricky Tognazzi
• Mafia kills only in Summer, director Pif