55% students think the Mafia is ‘invincible’
35% have faith in police forces
33.8% know the Mafia from direct experience
21,5% consider the Mafia a fact of life
When the first results came back from a poll about the Mafia of 3,000 students in Naples, researchers were so stunned by negative responses they decided it was better to get a wider sample in the Campana region. Unfortunately, despite obtaining six times the number of original answers, some 18,000, the results were even less optimistic: the majority of students in the Camorra-infested region think the Mafia is invincible.
Another recent example from Naples shows how organized crime permeates daily life — local newspaper Il Mattino uncovered a "milk product racket." Local heavies from the Mazzarella clan, not content with protection money skimmed from local businesses, started using persuasive methods to convince local supermarkets and restaurants to buy milk products — mainly the region’s famous bufalo milk mozzarella. At first, merchants denied any coercion from the Mafia but after an official investigation was opened, it turned out some 90% of the restaurants and food stores in the Santa Lucia and Chiaia neighborhoods were paying up and keeping quiet.
Related Resources:
Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic
Italian organized crime in a historical context…