Head, N’Drangheta – the Italian Mafia network in Calabria, Pasquale Condello, captured here in Feb 2008. Condello was one of the last major mob bosses on the run.

Since the late 1980s, the Italian state mounted a serious challenge to the Mafia, manifested in state crackdown and legislative moves aimed at crippling its power bases. Mafiosi in retaliation launched a counter attack against the Italian state by brutally slaying of high court judges, Giovanni Facolne and Paolo Borsellino in Sicily, widely known for their stance against the Mafia.

The ensuing war between the Mafia and the state, as well as increasing infighting between rivalling Mafia ‘families’ generated a palpable exhaustion with ‘mob’ violence among the Italian public and a powerful resentment against the Mafia, even from within its own ranks. These were the embryonic stages of what was to be a powerful anti-mafia movement (see Johnson & Soeters, 2008).

Although oftentimes de-emphasised in scholarly assessments of the reasons behind mafia decline, a resurrected civil society in Italy coincided with developing civil movements worldwide and an ethical and civil progression (see Kaldor, 2003; Kymlicka, 2001; Fabj, 1998), creating room for mob-exhausted Italians to act.

This strong anti-Mafia social movement, consisting of an expanding urban and educated middle class as well as ordinary citizens, many of whom lived under the sphere of influence of Mafia government, contributed to the defeat of the Mafia. Noteworthy is the role of women in this regard. In a courageous act during the height of Mafia power in Sicily, for example, one Sicilian woman scrawled anti-mafia slogans on a bed sheet and hung it from her window. Others joined in and soon the vast majority of the city’s women residents were hanging bed sheets. This movement became known as the Committee of the Sheets (or Cloths).

Thanks to widespread popular support, the ‘Women of the Cloths’ and other collectivities of citizens led by women mounted a raft of spontaneous protests, including marches, sit-ins and demonstrations. Among the numerous demonstrations was also a group called ‘Women of the Fasting’. These women started a hunger strike in the mid-July Italian heat to demand, among other things, the resignation of those responsible for the breaches in security and failure in protection which led to the death of Judges, Falcone and Borsellino.

The Association of Women against the Mafia in Palermo also came to play an important role in the growing anti- Mafia movement.  This association of women had already existed in the city of Palermo and its membership primarily included the widows of judges, police chiefs and lawyers assassinated in the line of duty, including Rita Borsellino – the sister of one of slain judge, Paolo Borsellino. The association regularly sent delegations to the Italian government in Rome to demand stronger political action against the Mafia, for which they won popular support and sympathy. The courage to defy the Mafia and the code of ‘omerta’ was strengthened by the increasing number of female mayors that have been elected in Sicily’s country side over the last few years (see Schneider & Schneider, 2003, pp. 294-295; Fabj, 1998, p. 205). The progressive ideas of these women not only proved to be unfertile grounds for a flourishing of the Mafia, but set in train the flourishing of other organisations within civil society determined to fight the Mafia (see Johnson& Soeters, 2008).

One of the most powerful and effective efforts of a reawakened Italian civil society was the fight against extortion – the area where the Mafia wielded power and earned the bulk of their wealth. The battle against extortion was fought on many fronts. For example, in 2004, a group of youths who wanted to open a pub and faced the fierce hand of extortionists, launched the “Addiopizzo Movement” (Goodbye Protection Money). Plastering the city of Palermo anti-pizzo flyers – “A people who pay the pizzo are a people without dignity”, the Addiopizza movement brings together large businesses in Palermo to collectively refuse to pay protection money. They eventually brought their campaign online and it struck a profound chord with Sicilians. 320 big businesses have so far signed up (San Francisco Chronicle, 2008, January 20). In 2006, another anti-extortion group calling itself ‘Youths Against Extortion’ took the Addiopizzo movement to another level by leading protests against extortion practices which were threatening small shop owners. This move was supported by the European Union which funds billboards against Mafia practices. One of them reads – ‘Contro l’estorsione nonsei solo’ (Against extortion, you are not alone).

The anti-extortion movement is effectual because it is bolstered by strong support from an industrialists lobby – Confindustria, and tougher legislative action from the Italian state. Whereas the industrialist lobby threatens to expel members who pay protection money, the Italian state intensified the pressure on business owners who pay extortion, prosecuting those who refuse to give testimony in clear cut cases of extortion. Under Italian law, a businessman who denies ‘paying up’ despite flagrant evidence can be charged with aiding and abetting the Cosa Nostra. Importantly, the state now claims that the victims of extortion can trust the police and the judiciary to protect them.

Although extortion practices continue to exist in Sicily and other regions in southern Italy, these are, nonetheless interesting developments, which illustrate that a powerful civil society had taken an active role in Italy and through unified, collective action, had successfully effected a real cultural revolt against the Mafia. The Italian case is evidence of the existence of a plurality of cultures, not all of which are mafia–friendly, even in regions renown for mafia ‘infestation’.

It is worthy of note, however, that alongside this effective anti-Mafia movement led by civil society, particularly women, was inspired police and judicial investigations which traced dirty money, found witnesses and uncovered criminality. In other words, a strengthened and professionalized police force, and political will were effective weapons against the Mafia, and the evidence of success was everywhere: many Mafiosi, including ‘top brass’ Godfathers were prosecuted and sentenced to tens of years of imprisonment. For example, arrests for membership in a Mafia-type organization increased from 874 in 1991 to a record high of 2136 in 1994, still being high at 1324 in 1997 (Jamieson, 2000, p. 231).

The vigilance and the urgency with which the Italian authorities want to terminate the impact of criminal power on the country continue to be evident: The arrest of Mafia capo Bernardo Provenzano in March 2006 – after having been wanted by the police for more than forty years; 38 arrests were made in a Sicilian anti-Mafia sweep in December 2007; And in February 2008, head of the N’Drangheta – the Italian Mafia network in Calabria, Pasquale Condello, was captured. Condello was one of the last major mob bosses on the run. Due to the consolidated efforts of civic groups, the Mafia’s once secure connections with Italian politics has also come under greater public scrutiny, contributing to the fall of once powerful politicians, such as former Prime Minister, Andreotti. 

Unquestionably, the situation is still precarious: extortion practices continue and the Mafia’s international and transnational linkages are still viable and continue to spread all over the globe. Mafiosi still try to seek political allies, and experts believe the Italian Mafia may rise again, if the current antimafia climate becomes less repressive (e.g. Jamieson, 2000).  Nonetheless, important results have been achieved: the Mafia has been ‘extinguished as a major actor in the United States’ criminal world’ (Reuter, 1995, p. 89), whereas in the eyes of many international leaders, Palermo, Sicily’s capital city, has become a global model and a promising if tenuous success story for antimafia (Schneider & Schneider, 2003, pp. 284-288; p. 301).

What, if any, these developments hold for the prospects for degarrisonisation and anti-donmanship in Jamaica?
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See my full article on this issue entitled Jamaican Dons, Italian Mafias and the Chances of a Reversible Destiny, In Political Studies, Vol  56 (1), March 2008, pp 166-193