Antimafia cross-border: conceptual and procedural asymmetries in the fight against Italian mafias in Europe

Sergi, Anna; Rizzuti, Alice

Abstract

This article explores some of the challenges to fighting against Italian mafias and mafia-type organized crime in Europe, specifically in eight countries—Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Romania, the UK, and Italy. Data have been collected and analysed in two phases: first, from open sources (including media and official reports) and judicial files; secondly, from 40 individual or collective interviews. European institutions still struggle to counter the mobility of Italian mafias because of conceptual asymmetries in policing mafia-type crimes/groups and procedural challenges. We present two analytical foci: first, the existence of a conceptual tension in the definition of mafia and mafia mobility between Italy and European countries and institutions; second, emerging procedural asymmetries in countering mafias across borders, which relate more broadly to cross-border countering of organized crime. This article wishes to screenshot the state of the art and advance some reflections, without pushing any specific theoretical framework. After exploring the two main analytical foci emerging in this research, we advance recommendations.

Citation

Sergi, A., & Rizzuti, A. (in press). Antimafia cross-border: conceptual and procedural asymmetries in the fight against Italian mafias in Europe. Policing, Article paac047. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paac047

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 5, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 10, 2022
• Deposit Date: Apr 29, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 11, 2024
• Journal: Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice
• Print ISSN: 1752-4512
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Article Number: paac047
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paac047
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3979875