HIST 340 – History of the Mafia and Global Crime

This course examines one such complex criminal phenomenon as the Mafia in its evolution from an agrarian-based criminal organization to a multinational of crime. This inevitably entails examining the main efforts made to this day to fight against organized crime as they have developed from the 1950s onwards in both the United States and Italy, which represent two core models for anti-mafia legislation.

The course is divided into four modules. Module 1 analyzes the persistent need for a statutory and generally accepted definition of Mafia and addresses the codes and behaviors of the main Mafia groups, their mythology, stereotypes, and their forms of social ‘acceptability’. Module 2 examines the historical evolution of the Mafia focusing on its relationship with politics and society. Module 3 analyzes the evolution of government and law enforcement agencies’ responses to the Mafia in the United States and Italy from the 1950s to the present. Module 4 examines the most recent developments of so-called global Mafia, the factors that made it possible for the Mafia to become a sort of multinational brand shared by different criminal groups all around the world, the characteristics of the most important mafias around the globe – besides those of Italy and the United States, Mexican and Colombian mafias, Yakuza in Japan and the Chinese Triads – the ways in which these groups interact within and with each other, how they operate in both legal and illegal markets, and the factors that to this day have helped the Mafia reach new territories.

Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to demonstrate a detailed, critical understanding of the fundamental aspects of the history of the Mafia, in particular its relationships with politics and the American Mafia, the social and cultural aspects behind this criminal phenomenon, and the ideology of the Mafia. Also, they should be able to develop a critical perspective of the myths, theories and realities of organized crime. Most recents developments of a global dimension of organized crime will also be analyzed.