Ercolano, Naples
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University of Bath PHD Civil society and the anti-pizzo movement: the case of Ercolano, Naples Bowkett, Chris Award date: 2017 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 07. Oct. 2021 Civil society and the anti-pizzo movement: the case of Ercolano, Naples Christopher Bowkett A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies September 2017 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis/portfolio rests with the author and copyright of any previously published materials included may rest with third parties. A copy of this thesis/portfolio has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it understands that they must not copy it or use material from it except as permitted by law or with the consent of the author or other copyright owners, as applicable. This thesis/portfolio may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation with effect from ………………. Signed on behalf of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences i Abstract The history of the mezzogiorno region of Italy is interwoven with the role of mafia-type associations, whose influence has affected the lives (and profits) of businesspeople from whom they collect pizzo “protection money”. The fear of reprisals and the lack of trust in law enforcement agencies make it very difficult for businesses approached by these groups for the first time to report the extortion. Once paid, the repeated, normalised and regularised cycle of paying the pizzo is difficult for businesses to break away from. Using the case study of the town of Ercolano, this thesis analyses how a community characterised by entrenched norms of paying the pizzo was able to overcome and uproot its localised extortion rackets to become a model of the anti-mafia movement in Italy. It considers how the pizzo may be best understood, how one community responded to it and to a localised mafia-type association in turn. Using a methodology that includes a ten month ethnography in the town, a questionnaire for members of the local antiracket association, and interviews with businesspeople, representatives from Civil Society, law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, this thesis analyses the defeat of Camorra extortion rackets through the mobilisation of Civil Society and its relationship with law enforcement agencies in a town characterised by deeply-rooted norms of pizzo paying. At the same time, it analyses the response of various Civil Society Organizations and the State to the Camorra on a cultural level, fostering attitudes that make it difficult for it to thrive. The thesis presents an empirical study based on fieldwork of a town previously characterised by a substantial influence by Camorra clans. In particular, it identifies culture and cultural norms that maintain the dominance that mafia-type associations have over communities as an area of focus for the anti-mafia movement more broadly. ii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... i Maps ...................................................................................................................................................... iv Glossary ................................................................................................................................................ viii Glossary of terms ............................................................................................................................. viii Glossary of names .............................................................................................................................. xi Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... xii Preamble ................................................................................................................................................. 1 i. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3 1 Defining our terms ...................................................................................................................... 6 1:1 Defining organized crime, mafia, Camorra ......................................................................... 6 1:2 Protection money, tangente and pizzo ............................................................................. 11 2:3 Civil Society ...................................................................................................................... 18 2: Research questions and hypotheses ......................................................................................... 24 3: Theoretical framework: Cultural Capital and Hegemony ......................................................... 27 4: Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 37 5: Organisaton of study ................................................................................................................. 46 ii. Ercolano: Demographics, crime and law enforcement ................................................................. 48 1: Ercolano ................................................................................................................................ 49 1:1 The town ........................................................................................................................... 49 1:2 Demographics ................................................................................................................... 51 1:3 Politics ............................................................................................................................... 55 2: Law enforcement and criminality ............................................................................................. 58 2:1 Judicial and police powers in Italy .................................................................................... 58 2:2 The Camorra in Ercolano ................................................................................................... 63 2:3 The local criminal landscape ............................................................................................. 68 3: Concluding remarks .................................................................................................................. 72 iii. Businesses and the pizzo .................................................................................................................. 73 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 74 1: The Judicial perspective........................................................................................................ 74 2: How does a business pay the pizzo? ..................................................................................... 78 3: How many businesses paid the pizzo? .................................................................................. 96 4: Why do businesses pay the pizzo? ...................................................................................... 104 5: Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 106 iii iv. The State’s response to the Camorra ............................................................................................. 108 1: Judicial repression in Ercolano ............................................................................................ 109 2: Structural adjustment through funding ............................................................................. 113 3: Cultures of Legality ............................................................................................................. 123 4: The Modello Ercolano ......................................................................................................... 139 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 153 v. Civil Society’s response to the Camorra .......................................................................................... 156 1: Civil Society