The cost of illegality: a research programme

The analysis of the different Mafias of today benefits from a huge amount of empirical data produced by investigators. This allows us to outline more reliable indexes of the penetration of Mafiosi in given territories as well as to estimate the size of their activities in a transparent and empirically testable way. The contributions gathered in this book stem from the application of an innovative methodology originally introduced by the Fondazione Rocco Chinnici, and they enlarge our understanding of such a complex and dynamic phenomenon. After the presentation of the approach, the chapters are devoted to the Camorra’s present situation, to an estimate of the size of extortion, to a comparison between Cosa Nostra and Camorra, to the analysis of wiretapped conversations and, finally, to the delocalisation of Mafias and the perspectives of a European anti-Mafia policy