Abstract
If there is no honor among thieves, how do you organize them? How do you communicate with people that lie for a living in a universe of secrets? How do you make financial transactions, with no written contracts or access to the courts? Who counts the money? Who collects it? How are decisions made? Strategy? Recruitment? How do you compete or cooperate with other criminal organizations while simultaneously avoiding law enforcement agencies and institutions that, in John Gotti’s words, “Never take off or run out of money”?
These questions and many others are discussed, analyzed, and debated in a rather remarkable book by Maurizio Catino, Mafia Organizations: The Visible Hand of Criminal Enterprise. Catino is a professor of sociology of organizations at the University of Milan-Bicocca and visiting scholar in the Department of Sociology at New York University.
This book is a classic in organizational theory and criminal justice. It would be useful for graduate school in public administration or teaching classes in political science and organized crime. Law enforcement should read this book as well, and to be honest, so should the bad guys.
This book compares the various organizational structures and business models of mafias in general, defined as “economic organizations that derive their strength from the fact that they sell protection and services (often forcibly imposed) that someone buys.” The specific mafia organizations used for this study are the American Cosa Nostra, Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Neopolitan Camorra, Calabrian ‘Ndranghetta, Japanese Yakuza, Hong Kong Triads, and Russian Vor-v-zakone. The main variables studied are organizational form and function, rules, and organizational dilemmas.
The big decision for mafia organizations is how to distribute power. Should it be decentralized, horizontal, with independent clans or families working in smaller more efficient units? Or, should there be a clan-based federation, with High Level Bodies of Coordination that can undertake a more complex criminal enterprises and mediate disputes?
Individual clans can decide, adapt, and react without waiting for higher organizational approval. This is an advantage and a curse. Clans always compete with other clans for territory or profits, and violence is the arbiter. Clan-based organizations, like the Cammora, have more murder than clan-based federations. For example, the Cammora as a rule commits more murders than the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and ‘Ndranghetta combined. This is also why Chicago today has more gang murders than New York and Los Angeles combined. Many top leaders in Chicago are in jail and everyone is fighting for turf. Less organization means more bodies.
Clan-based federations are like the United Nations; they decide on broad rules of engagement and settle disputes but do not make management decisions for individual clans. They are good at coordinating multilateral campaigns, but instead of distributing food, they market narcotics or human beings. They have more political pull and morph into the legitimate economies easily and greatly. Although they commit less murders, they are more capable of killing high profile targets-judges, politicians, and public figures. There is never a boss of bosses. Consensus rules. Wannabe Napoleons die.
One problem with the clan-based federations is that the wider the personal interaction the greater the danger of informants doing serious damage. Members of differing organizations sharing information, even limited, is dangerous. Organizational structures make it easier for law enforcement to understand and follow their targets.
Rules are a problem when no one writes them down. Mafia organizations rely heavily on ritual and tradition to train, indoctrinate, and institutionalize behavior. Things are done by the book, but the book is written with oral mythology, ceremony, and repetition. Conformity is enforced with violence and rewarded with money, power, and respect.
Mafia organizations share many of the same problems their legitimate counterparts deal with. Do you recruit for talent or family connections? When is a good time to expand the organization? Is it a good time to diversify? How do mergers affect the efficiency of the organization?
Communication is everything. Each mafia organization has a specific division of labor and management, with strict protocols for communicating above and below.
Of course, mafia organizations have unique dilemmas. What politicians do you bribe? Is it time to threaten or murder? How far up the management chain should this decision be made? Can a member have relatives in law enforcement? The Russians say “no.” The Italians say “this could be useful.”
Not surprisingly, this is a well-organized book. Each chapter has its own Dewey Decimal System, so you can read something mentioned in an earlier chapter and then zip back to it in 10 s. I found the organizational charts for the individual mafias utterly fascinating, especially the ‘Ndranghetta, whose recruitment is unique. Blood and family ties get you in at birth. If you don’t work out, like any family, you get a desk job. Marriage seals treaties like in the Middle Ages.
Of course, some of the book is dry and complicated. Organizational theory is rarely turned into a Broadway musical, but there are moments of poetry such as the funeral of a mafia don in Rome (funerals and weddings are legitimate commercials for mafia organizations, showing power but not secrets to the public). The crowds were huge, traffic cops and helicopters overhead, over a 100 luxury cars in the procession. Outside the giant cathedral, the band played the theme to the Godfather. Posters were everywhere showing the departed don dressed as the Pope, with the caption “He conquered Rome, now he’ll conquer Heaven.”
This book shows the organization of various mafias, along with current trends—the decline of the American Cosa Nostra and the rise of the ‘Ndranghetta, for example. The section on Hong Kong triads was very relevant, especially after gangs attacking prodemocracy protesters in Hong Kong this summer.
There was very little mention of the cartels and South American mafias, yet their power is increasing in the United States. Hopefully, that will be Mr. Catino’s next excellent book.
