Smugglers, traffickers and entrepreneurs. Genesis and reproduction of Camorra groups

This contribution analyses Camorra groups and families as an emergent phenomenon within social and economic spaces, strictly related to the violent regulation of legal and illegal markets. In the perspective of criminology and functionalist sociology – and in the common sense too – camorra groups are considered as close-knit groups, with clear borders and identity, operating in a fragmented criminal system and often fighting each other. In spite of these points of view, camorra groups act as a wide family business: large kinship networks, intertwined with economic activities, often connected, through marriage strategies, to other families who play a strategic role in the same sector where the clan operates. Clans are mostly based on open entrepreneurial-type networks which operates on an international scale and in several economic sectors. Through an in-depth analysis of some empirical cases and genealogies, this paper highlights the genesis and the reproduction of the main urban Camorra families and groups.