The antimafia : Italy's fight against organized crime / Alison Jamieson ; foreword by Luciano Violante.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jamieson, Alison

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mafia--Italy.

Mafia.

Italy.

Physical Description:

xxii, 257 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2000.

Summary:

Cosa Nostra's terror campaign against the Italian state began in Sicily in spring 1992 and continued with bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993. The murders of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino plunged Italy into an institutional crisis which was aggravated by mounting evidence of endemic corruption within the top echelons of political and business life.

Seven years on, important progress has been made - law enforcement capabilities have been strengthened and professionalized, new legislation is in place, an Antimafia civic conscience has developed and those materially responsible for the attacks of 1992 and 1993 are in prison. But the Mafia is far from defeated. New leaders have emerged whose criminal operations increasingly merge with those of the legal economy, international criminal alliances have been established and, with only a fraction of its annual turnover confiscated, the Mafia's power to buy influence and to attract the young remains formidable.

Alison Jamieson analyses the seesaw nature of Italy's Antimafia efforts before and after 1992 and sets them within the context of international initiatives against organized crime. She examines the charge of Mafia association levelled against seven-times prime minister Giulio Andreotti and evaluates the impact of recent Antimafia efforts on the Mafia itself.

Using primary sources, the latest data and interviews with senior judges, politicians, police officers and relatives of Mafia victims - including the courageous women of the grassroots movement - the author provides the first complete analysis of the successes and failures of the Italian Antimafia.

Contents:

1 The Significance of 1992 1

2 The Mafia-Antimafia Seesaw 10

3 The Political Response 40

4 The Law-enforcement Response 75

5 The Grassroots Antimafia 127

6 The International Response 159

7 War ... and Peace? 200.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 236-248) and index.

ISBN:

0312229119

OCLC:

41944663