MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Sociology of Mafias
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
[email protected]
NOTE: This Option runs on Friday 14:00-16:00 in the Manor Road Building, starting on the
22st of January for 8 weeks.
This document is designed to provide students with basic information on this option. It is subject to minor
changes to be communicated at the beginning of the course.
Objectives
The course analyzes five criminal organizations that have emerged in different times and contexts: the
Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the American Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Hong Kong Triads and the Japanese
Yakuza. We explore the extent to which these cases, notwithstanding their differences, share crucial
characteristics and features.
The course begins by defining State, Mafia group, Mafia and organized crime, and distinguishes the Mafia
from superficially related phenomena, such as corruption and patronage. The course examines parallels
between state behavior in early modern Europe and Mafia behavior, the emergence of Mafias as well as
what Mafias do in both legal and illegal markets. The second part of the course focuses on how Mafias
perform their roles. We shall study the resources, the organization, the role of women and the norms of
these organizations. Finally, the course explores factors that facilitate the expansion and the decline of
Mafias and whether Mafias are emerging in non-traditional areas.
The course is multidisciplinary and draws on concepts from political theory, industrial economics, and
political economy, as well as on the history and sociology of different countries, such as Hong Kong, Italy,
Japan, Russia, and the United States.
Course Assessment:
Production of two “Reading Responses” (RRs) during the course of the Term, to be submitted by
noon on Friday of Weeks 3 and 6 by email to the course provider. The RRs should not exceed two
A4 pages (font 12). The course provider will supply the title of the RRs the week before, during
class time. The work will be graded on a pass/fail basis. In case of fail, the candidate is allowed to
re-submit once. If the candidate fails twice, or fails to submit none or only one of the RRs, s/he will
have failed the course. Late submission will lead to penalization in the final grade.
Production of one assessed essay written unsupervised and unaided. The courser provider will
publish three Exam Questions on Friday of Week 8 at noon. Candidates will answer ONE of these
1
questions and submit hard and soft copies of their essay to the Graduate Studies Administrator by
noon on Friday of Week 11.
This assignment must be no less than 3,500 words and no more than 5,000 words (inclusive of
footnotes but excluding bibliography and appendices). An accurate word count must be declared on
the first page of the essay.
Students may not approach the course provider for clarification on essay questions or help with or
feedback on the essay. Students are expected to draw on course readings; whilst they may be
rewarded for drawing upon additional works, Examiners may reduce the mark of those who fail to
cite course readings.
Candidates should take seriously the word limits imposed (both upper and lower). If the word limit is
exceeded then the examiners may decide not to mark the work; and if they do proceed then the mark may
be reduced. Similarly those who write less than the minimum word limit may be penalized.
2
Seminars’ Topics
Week
Topic
1
Definitions; The Logic of Protection; Property Rights Theory and Protection
2
Origins of Mafias
3
Origin of the Mafias continued
4
Resources; Organization
5
Role of women; Norms; What Mafias Do in the Overworld
6
What Mafias Do in the Underworld; Organized Crime in non-traditional Mafia Territories; Mafias
and Terrorism
7
The Transplantation of Mafias; The Decline of Mafias
8
Revision
Pre-course Reading:
Pileggi, N. 1985. Wise Guy: Life in a Mafia Family.
Pistone, J.D. and R. Woodley. 1988. Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia.
Maas, P.1997. Underboss. Sammy the Bull Gravano’s Story of Life in the Mafia.
Miyazaki, M. 2005. Topppamono. Outlaw, Radical, Suspect.
Pre-course Viewings: Mean Streets; The Godfather: Parts One and Two; Goodfellas;
Casino; Donnie Brasco; Gangs of New York; Cartel Land.
Key Texts:
Chu. Y.K. 2000. The Triads as Business. Routledge.
Gambetta. D. 1993. The Sicilian Mafia. Harvard University Press.
Varese. F. 2001. The Russian Mafia. Oxford University Press.
Varese. F. (edited by). 2010. Organized Crime. Critical Concepts in Criminology. Routledge.
Varese. F. 2011. Mafias on the Move. Princeton UP.
Every week students are expected to study the ‘required readings’ and engage in class discussion.
Key papers are collected in Varese (2010). You could also consult JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/),
Electronic
Journals
on
line
at
Oxlip+
and
Oxford
scholarship
online
(http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/). Blackwell’s Bookshop in Oxford has created a shelf
dedicated to our class. It is located in the ‘Politics’ area, just before the ‘Cold War’ section. You should
find there are the key texts for this class.
3
MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Mafias
Week 1
Definitions (State, Organized Crime, Mafia); The Logic of Protection; Property Rights
Theory and Protection.
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
Required Readings:
Varese 2013. ‘Protection and Extortion’ in Oxford Handbook of Organized Crime, ed L Paoli, OUP
[available online through SOLO]
Varese, F. 2010. ‘What is Organized Crime?’ in Varese 2010.
Schelling, T.C. 1971. What is the business of organized crime? in Id., Choice and Consequence
(Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 1984), pp. 179-94. Also in Varese
2010.
Nozick, R. 1974. Anarchy, State and Utopia, Part I (pp. 3-25). Also in Varese 2010.
Weber, M. ‘Politics as Vocation’, in H.H. Gerth, C.W. Mills (eds), From Max Weber, pp. 77-78.
Tilly, C. 1985. ‘War making and state making as organized crime’, in P.B. Evans, D. Rueschemeer, T.
Skocpol (eds.), Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 169190. Also in Varese 2010.
Lane, F. 1958. ‘Economic Consequences of Organized Violence’, Journal of Economic History, 18, pp.
401-417. Also in Varese 2010.
[Approx. 140 pages]1




What is the nature of protection? Is protection a commodity? In what ways is protection a natural
monopoly?
How does the state differ from the mafia? And how does the mafia differ from OC?
Why property rights are relevant to the emergence of the modern state?
Explore the connection between reputation for violence, protection and mafia.
4
MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Mafias
Week 2
Origins of Mafias (Sicilian Mafia, Russia Mafia and Yakuza)
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
Required Readings:
Gambetta, ch. 4. Also in Varese 2010.
Fentress, J. 2000. Rebels & Mafiosi. (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press), pp. 1-10.
Varese, F. 1994. ‘Is Sicily the future of Russia? Private protection and the rise of the Russian Mafia’,
Archives Européennes de Sociologie, 35, pp.224-58. Also in Varese 2010.
Varese, 2001. ch. 7.
Milhaupt, C.J., West, M.D. 2000. ‘The dark side of private ordering: An institutional and empirical
analysis of organized crime’, University of Chicago Law Review, 67(1), pp. 41-98. In Varese
2010.
[Approx. 140 pp.]2



Is there a single framework that can explain the rise of all Mafias under study?
Were the vory-v-zakone a mafia?
Compare and contrast Fentress’ and Gambetta’s account of the rise of the Sicilian Mafia.
5
MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Mafias
Week 3
Origin of the Mafias continued (Italian American Mafia, Triads); Resources Mafias use
(Information gathering and Intelligence; Violence; Reputation; Advertising)
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
Required Readings:
Varese, F. 2011. Chapter 6, pp. 101-126.
Kelly, Robert. 2010. A New Horizon on Organized Crime: Re-locating Organized Crime in America.
Global Crime, 11(1), pp. 58-66.
Chu, pp. 11-21, 31-35. Also in Varese 2010.
Gambetta, ch. 2.
[Approx. 120]3


How different is the emergence of the Italian American mafia from the rest?
How can we account through a property-right based model for the emergence of the Triads in
Hong?
6
MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Mafias
Week 4
Resources Mafias use (cnt); Organization [how they are organized]: Number and size of groups
Recruitment and Rituals; Hierarchies
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
Required Readings:
Falcone, G. 1992. Men of Honour (London: Fourth Estate), ch. 1 (‘violence’)
Gambetta, ch. 6. Also in Varese 2010.
Chu, 22-31. Also in Varese 2010.
Varese, 2001. pp. 118-9, ch. 6, pp. 167-177, pp. 184-186.
Varese, F. 2006. ‘The Secret History of Japanese Cinema: The Yakuza Movies’. Global Crime 7:1, pp.
107-126. Also in Varese 2010.
Gambetta, D. Codes of the Underworld, Chapter 10: ‘Why (Low) Life Imitates Art’ 251-274.
Hill, P. The Japanese Mafia (Oxford University Press, 2003), Chapter 2 (‘The Modern Yakuza’), pp. 6591.
[Approx. 120]4








What role does information play in the day-to-day operation of a Mafia? And violence?
How does a mafia go about collecting reliable information?
What is the role of reputation in the underworld?
Since Mafias cannot advertise themselves publicly, which devices do they use?
Are mafias organized in a hierarchical fashion or as loose networks? And why?
Why there are no women in the mafia?
Why do Mafias have rituals?
Do Strict Roles Obtain or Each Member Can Be Asked to Perform any Task? Are Delicate Jobs
Assigned to Outsiders? i.e. murders are carried out by professional killers or mafia members?
7
MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Mafias
Week 5
Organization (cnt): Bosses [e.g. age, profession, death]; Role of women; Internal norms [e.g.
introduction; inheritance; expulsion; punishment]; External norms.
What Mafias do in the Overworld.
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
Required Readings:
Pizzini, V. ‘Gender Norms in the Sicilian Mafia, 1945-86’, in Gender and Crime in Modern Europe
(London: UCL Press), pp. 257-276. Also in Varese 2010.
Graebner Anderson A. 1979. The Business of Organised Crime, ch 2 (pp. 34-49). Also in Varese 2010.
Gambetta, ch. 8. Also in Varese 2010.
Chu, 53-76 and 83-106. Also in Varese 2010.
Varese, 2001. ch. 5.
Fentress, J. 2000. Rebels & mafiosi : death in a Sicilian landscape, p. 165.
Reuter, P. 1984. "Racketeers as Cartel Organizers" in H. Alexander and G. Caiden (eds.) Political and
Economic Perspectives on Organized Crime , D.C. Heath, pp. 49-65. Also in Varese 2010.
Gambetta, D., P. Reuter. 1995 ‘Conspiracy among the many: The Mafia in legitimate industries’, in
G.Fiorentini and S. Peltzman (eds.), The Economics of Organised Crime (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press), pp. 116-36. Also in Varese 2010.
[Approx. 160 pp.]5





Why are Bosses older in the Sicilian and Italian American Mafias than in the Camorra and
`Ndrangheta?
Which norms are common across mafias and which ones are specific? Any idea why?
What is the role of the Mafia in the legal economy?
Which sectors of the economy are more vulnerable to mafia penetration?
In what sense is the Mafia enforcing cartel agreements? And what are the economic consequences
of mafia-controlled cartels? And the conditions for disappearance of mafia-controlled cartels?
8
MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Mafias
Week 6
What Mafias do in the Underworld. Organized Crime in Colombia and Mexico.
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
Required Readings:
Gambetta, ch. 9. Also in Varese 2010.
Graebner Anderson A. 1979. The Business of Organised Crime, chs 3, 4. (pp. 50-74). Also in Varese
2010.
Landesco, John. 1929. Organized Crime in Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ch. 2.
Haller, M.H. 1971. ‘Organized Crime in Urban Society: Chicago in the 20th Century’, Journal of Social
History, 5, pp. 210-234.
"Cocaine War. A Special Report", New York Times, April 21, 2000.
Thoumi, F. 2009. From Drug Lords to Warlords. Illegal Drugs and the Unintended Consequences of Drug
Policies in Colombia. In E. Wilson (ed.) Government of the Shadows: Parapolitics and Criminal
Sovereignty, Pluto Press, pp. 205-225.
Human Rights Watch. 2010. Paramilitaries’ Heirs. The New face of Violence in Colombia. At
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2010/02/03/paramilitaries-heirs-0
Grillo, I. 2011. El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency. Chapters 4 and 8.
[Approx. 160 pp.]6



What are the features of illegal markets?
The mafia-enforced cartel over tobacco smuggling in Southern Italy lasted from 1973 to 1979.
Why did it collapse?
Why is the drug trade extremely destabilizing for criminal organizations?Under what condition
can an insurgent group turn into a Mafia?
9
MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Mafias
Week 7
The Transplantation of Mafias
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
Required Readings:
Varese, F. 2011, pp. 1-101 and 126-145, 188-202.
Campana P. 2011. ‘Eavesdropping on the Mob: The Functional Diversification of Mafia Activities across
Territories’. European Journal of Criminology 8:213-28.
Morselli et al. 2011. The Mobility of Criminal Groups. Global Crime 21(3), 165-188.
Calderoni, F et al. 2015. The Italian mafias in the world: A systematic assessment of the mobility of
criminal groups. European Journal of Criminology.
[Approx. 160 pp.]7


“Al Qaeda is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money; its goal is
remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.” George W. Bush.
Given this week’s readings, do you agree?
How easy can Mafias migrate out of their original territory?
10
MSc in Sociology
Hilary Term 2015
Sociology of Mafias
Week 8
Mafia and Terrorism; The Decline of Mafias; Revision
PROFESSOR FEDERICO VARESE
Schneider J and P. 2002. ‘The Mafia and Al-Qaeda: Violent and Secretive Organizations in Comparative
and Historical Perspective’, American Anthropologist, pp. 776-782.
Reuter, P. 1995. ‘The decline of the American Mafia.’ The Public Interest, 120, pp. 89-99. Also in Varese
2010.
Zhang S. and K-L. Chin. 2003. The Declining Significance of Triad Societies in Transnational
Perspective. British Journal of Criminology 43, pp. 469-88. Also in Varese 2010.
[Approx. 35 pp.]

Under which conditions do Mafias decline?
11
Additional Topics (optional):
1. The Study of Mafias: Network Analysis; Content Analysis; Historical Comparative Sociology;
Principal-Agent Models
M. Sparrow. 1991. ‘The Application of Network Analysis to Criminal Intelligence: An assessment of
the Prospects’. Social Networks. 13, 251-74.
Campana, P. and F. Varese. 2011. Listening to the wire: criteria and techniques for the
quantitative analysis of phone intercepts. Trends in Organized Crime, 14(2)
Kiser, E. 1999. ‘Comparing Varieties of Agency Theory in Economics, Political Science and Sociology’.
Sociological Theory, 146-170.
Skocpol T. and M. Somers. 1980. ‘The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry’.
Comparative Studies in Societies and History, 22, 174-97.
2. Co-operation between Mafias and States
Arlacchi, P. 1986. Mafia Businesses, ch. 2.
S. Lupo, ‘The Allies and the Mafia’, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 2(1), pp. 21-33.
A.A. Block. 1986. ‘A Modern Marriage of Convenience: A Collaboration Between Organized Crime
and US Intelligence’, pp. 58-77.
Landesco, John. 1929. Organized Crime in Chicago, Introduction (by M. Haller, pp. vii-xviii) and ch. 8
(169-189).
P. Allum, 1997 ‘Statesman or Godfather? The Andreotti Trails’, in R. D’Alimonte & D. Nelken (eds.),
Italian Politics. The Centre-Left in Power (Oxford: Westview Press), pp. pp. 219-233.
R. Catanzaro, 1993 ‘A Watershed Year for both the Mafia and the State’, in S. Hellman & G. Pasquino
(eds), Italian Politics: A Review, vol. 8 (London: Pinter), pp. 134-150.
3. Anti-Mafia Policies
P. Hill, 2000. ‘Organized Crime Countermeasures Japanese Style’ (mimeo).
F. Sabetti. 2000. The Search for Good Government (McGill-Queen’s UP), ch. 6.
J. Jacobs. 1999. Gotham Unbound. How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime,
pp. 129-134 and pp. 223-235.
H. Abadinsky. 1990. Organised Crime (Chicago: Nelson hall), chs. 9 and 10.
4. Mafia and Popular Culture
Gambetta, ch. 6.
Ruth, D. 1996. Inventing the Public Enemy: The Gangster in American Culture, 1918-1934 (University of
Chicago Press), pp. 118-143.
12
ADDITIONAL (OPTIONAL) READINGS for term’s topics:
1
Additional Readings:
Olson, M. 2000. Power and Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships, (New
York: Basic Books), pp. 1-12.
Buchanan, J.M. 1973. "A Defense of Organized Crime?" in S. Rottenberg, ed.,The Economics of Crime
and Punishment: Washington, DC, American Enterprise Institute, 1973, pp. 119-132.
Tullock, G. 1970. ‘Protection’, in Id., Private Wants, Public Means (New York: Basic Books), pp. 210223.
Poggi, G. 1990 The State. Its Nature, Development and Prospects (Polity Press) pp. 34-51.
Anderson A. 1995. ‘Organized crime, Mafia, governments’ In G. Fiorentini and S. Peltzman (eds.), The
Economics of Organized Crime (Cambridge UP), pp. 33-54.
Rubin, P.H. (1973), "The Economic Theory of the Criminal Firm," in S. Rottenberg, ed., The Economics
of Crime and Punishment: Washington, DC. American Enterprise Institute, 1973, pp. 155-166.
North, D.C., Thomas, P. 1973. The Rise of the Western World (Cambridge University Press), pp. 1-18;
53-64.
2
Additional Readings:
Hill, P.,The Japanese Mafia (Oxford University Press, 2003), Chapter 2 (‘Yakuza Evolution’), pp. 36-64.
Stark, D.H. 1981. The Yakuza Japanese Crime Incorporated, Ph.D. Thesis (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan), pp. 26-44.
Bell, D. 1953. ‘Crime as an American Way of Life’, in Id., The End of Ideology, in Bell, D. 1965, The
End of Ideology (London: Collier-MacMillan), ch. 7.
Bandiera, Oriana. 2003. 'Private States and the Enforcement of Property Rights: Theory and Evidence
on the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia.' Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 19, no. 1,
pp. 218-244.
Fentress, James. 2000. Rebels & mafiosi : death in a Sicilian landscape. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press.
Dian H. Murray, Qin Baoqi. 1994. The Origins of the Tiandihui. Stanford Univ Press.
3
Additional Readings:
Murray, D.H., Qin Baoqi. 1994. The Origins of the Tiandihui, pp. 5-37 (ch. 1)
Russo, G. 2002. The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America
(Bloomsbury USA), pp. 3-48.
Asbury, H. 1927. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld (Thunder's Mouth
Press).
Anbinder, T. 2002. Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap
Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum, (Plume), pp. 367-378.
4
Additional Readings:
Morselli, C. 2003. Career Opportrunities and network-based priviledges in the Cosa Nostra. Crime, Law and
Social Change, 39: 393-418.
13
Finckenauer J.O. and E.J. Waring, 1998. Russian Mafia in America (Boston: Northeastern University Press) Ch.
8 and Appendix C.
Stark, D.H. 1981. The Yakuza: Japanese Crime Incorporated, Ph.D. Thesis (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan), pp. 62-131.
H. Abadinsky. 1983. The Criminal Elite (London: Greenwood Press), ch. 11.
Thorelli, H.B. (1986), "Networks: Between Markets and Hierarchies," in Strategic Management
Journal, vol. 7, pp. 37-51.
Williamson, O.E. (1975), Markets and Hierarchies: New York, The Free Press.
5
Additional Readings:
Kimeldorf, H. 1988. Reds or Rackets: The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the
Waterfront. Berkeley: University of California Press. Preface (ix-x) and Ch. 2.
Alexander, B. 1997. ‘The Rational racketeer: pasta protection in Depression era Chicago’, Journal of
Law and Economics, pp. 175-202.
Bell, D. ‘The Racket-Ridden Longshoremen’, in Id., The End of Ideology, ch. 9.
Reuter, P. (1987) Racketeering in Legitimate Industries. A Study in the Economics of Intimidation (Santa
Monica: The RAND Corporation), pp. 1-74.
Frye. T. 2002. ‘Private Protection in Russia and Poland’, AJPS, pp. 572-584.
Block, A.A. 1983. East Side West Side. Organizing Crime in New York 1930-1950 (London: Transaction
Publishers), ch. 6.
Block, A.A. 1997. ‘The Origins of Fuel Racketeering: The Americans and the ‘Russians’ in New York’,
in P. Williams (ed.), Russian Organised Crime. The New Threat? (London: Frank Cass), pp.
156-176.
Graebner Anderson A. 1979. The Business of Organised Crime (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press), chs
3 and 4.
Landesco, John. 1929. Organized Crime in Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ch. 2.
Haller, M.H. 1971. ‘Organized Crime in Urban Society: Chicago in the 20th Century’, Journal of Social
History, 5, pp. 210-234.
Russo, G. 2002. The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America
(Bloomsbury USA), pp. 111-118.
6
Additional Readings:
Ioan Grillo. 2016. Gangster Warlors.
Misha Glenny, Nemesis. 2015.
M. Bowden. 2001. Killing Pablo, pp. 108-272.
T. Blickman. 1997.’The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba’ Transnational Organized Crime, 3:2, pp. 5089. at: http://www.tni.org/archives/tblick/aruba.htm
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, "Aruba," pp. 1-3, February 1999 at
http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1998_narc_report/carib98.html.
7
Additional Readings:
Varese, F. 2004. ‘Mafia Transplantation’, in J. Kornai, B. Rothstein, and S. Rose-Ackerman (eds.)
Creating Social Trust: Problems of Post-Socialist Transition. New York: Palgrave-Macmillian,14
pp.148-166.
15