Mafia e segreto. Meccanismi sociali della segretezza e criminalità organizzata

Mafia is a complex and elusive, ancient and extremely modern phenomenon that has shown throughout the years an extraordinary flexibility, an unbelievable adaptability, as well as a marked versatility to conform itself to the varied economic institutional conditions.The type of analysis which was adopted in this work enabled to analyze mafia as a system of occult power drawing, from the social mechanisms of secrecy, both the elements of its strength and further opportunities of infiltration into society’s basic structure. Mafia succeeds - through a close net of friends, acquaintances, obligations and through the occult exchange, typically represented by corruption - in controlling wide areas of society and parts of the democratic institutions themselves.The mechanisms of secrecy representing one of mafia’s points of strength, also represent however its weak point when - through their logic - they pollute the internal communication. In a universe where acting in a highly determined way, always aimed at the extreme consequences, joins a social communication committed to a cryptic language, both anxiety and distrust grow higher and higher, out of all proportion. In the forest of hints and in the confusion of generated signals it is uneasy to distinguish who is lying, who keeps silent, who does not know, who is twisting. Each individual member becomes an element of complexity, as he aims at reproducing inside the organization, in the double function of defence and offence, areas of shade and obscure niches, in the most secret core of which agreements and alliances are made, that are always and anyhow twofold, ambiguous, contingent. The result is a widespread, hypnotic distrust which producing an escalation of violence and brutality.Furthermore, this work examines the relationship between mafia and territory, stressing the typical processes of solidarity and mutual support, which are “unreflected” in the sense that they are implemented by merely sharing a common space.The conclusion mentions the emerging trend of the mafia phenomenon to adopt the features of terrorism, but leaves many questions unanswered emphasizing that the mechanisms of secrecy still hamper a thorough clearness of the problem.