(EN) Organized crime in Italy: the Puglia mafia

Abstract

This article will deal with the development of organized crime in the Puglia region of Southern Italy. The present study will trace the different criminal dynamics present in this territory and discuss the multiple typologies and structures of organized mafia-type associations. This study will also emphasize the presence of women in the criminal associations and analyze the evolution of women’s roles from the end of the 1980’s till the most recent judgments by the Italian Courts, in which the perpetrator or the co-perpetrator was for the first time found to be a woman. Throughout this mapping of organized crime groups within the local area, the author will examine the basic dimension of criminal associations reporting to the legal penal provisions: activities, rationale and scope.