NCJ Number
183678
Date Published
2000
Length
279 pages
Annotation
This volume analyzes the nature of Italy’s efforts to address the organized crime group called Cosa Nostra before and after 1992 and discusses these anti-Mafia efforts within the context of international initiatives against organized crime.
Abstract
The analysis uses information from government reports; other publications; and interviews with judges, politicians, police officers, and relatives of Mafia victims. The discussion notes that Cosa Nostra’s terrorist campaign against he Italian government began in Sicily in the spring of 1992 and continued with bombings in Rome, Florence, and Milan in 1993. The murders of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino led to an institutional crisis that was aggravated by mounting evidence of endemic corruption within the top echelons of political and business life. Important progress since that time has included the strengthening of law enforcement capabilities, the development of an anti-Mafia civic conscience, and the imprisonment of the persons materially responsible for the attacks of 1992 and 1993. Nevertheless, new Mafia leaders have emerged whose criminal operations increasingly merge with those of the legal economy. In addition, the Mafia has established international criminal alliances; the organization has considerable power. The analysis concludes that Italy stands at a crossroads in its efforts to address the Mafia. Tables, chapter reference notes, and index (Publisher summary modified)