Gender and Organized Crime in Italy

Description

In this comprehensive study of the role of women in the Italian mafia, Ombretta Ingrasci assesses the roles and spaces of women within traditionally male, patriarchal organized crime units. The study draws on an extensive range of research, legal reports and interviews with women involved with the mafia, public officials and police. Placed within a framework of political, social, cultural and religious history, post-1945, this book provides an excellent history of women and organized crime in modern Italy. Ombretta Ingrasci is a Fellow at the University of Milan, Italy.

Introduction
Chapter 1
Cosa nostra and the ‘Ndrangheta
Violence, power and business
Organizational structures and rituals
Chapter 2
Women in the Italian society
Labour market
Social customs and rights
Chapter 3
Mafia control over women
The code of honour
Female oppression
Honour killings
Blood alliances through marriages
Chapter 4
Women’s conformist agency. Performing soft power
Education
Vendetta
Chapter 5
Women’s compliant agency. From margins to delegated power
The drug trade
Economic crimes
From hermes tasks to leadership positions
Female agency meets mafia organizational needs
Chapter 6
Women’s transformative agency. In search for autonomous paths
The strength of female vulnerability
Speaking out
Following the own children
The ethical impact
Appendix
Lea Garofalo’s letter to Italian President of Republic
Bibliography
Sources
Notes

“For very long, women were considered a passive force in Italian mafia organizations. Ombretta Ingrasci”s path-breaking study brings to the fore women’s agency and offers a theoretically subtle discussion of the complex role of women. Add to that a wealth of archival and oral data, and you have in your hands a definitive study of this difficult subject.” —Federico Varese, Professor of Criminology, Oxford University, UK

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