Mafia rules. The role of criminal codes in mafia organizations

Catino, Maurizio

doi:10.1016/j.scaman.2015.10.001

Cited by 49 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…It has been noted (Catino, 2014) that different mafias, such as the American and Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Ndrangheta, the Yakuza, or Triads, show a great similarity, since these criminal organizations, despite their historical and cultural differences, share common organizational problems. Starting from this consideration, we chose Catino’s (2015) article to illustrate shadow organizing according to the metonymy of secrecy.…”

Section: Shadow Stands For Maintaining Secrecymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The author observes that “even if the context of criminal organizations is radically different from the context of legitimate organizations, mafias use organizational rules for the same reason legitimate organizations do: (1) to ensure organization, coordination and cooperation among their members and their organizational units. In addition to this function, mafias also need rules (2) to settle conflicts and to contain violence; and (3) to maintain secrecy and conceal information regarding their illegal activities from the outside” (Catino, 2015, p. 537). Because legitimate organizations do not need rules to settle dispute since they can rely on courts, and they require secrecy only in relation to a limited number of activities, what characterizes mafia rules is containment of violence and secrecy.…”

Section: Shadow Stands For Maintaining Secrecymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shadow organizing: a metaphor to explore organizing as intra-relating

Gherardi

Jensen

Nerland

2017

QROM

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The present paper conceives 'organizing' as an indeterminate process taking place in the interstices of intra-acting elements, beyond visible/rational/intentional organizing. The term intraactivity refers to relationships between multiple elements (human and more-than-human) that are understood not to have clear or distinct boundaries. The paper aims at reframing organizing, as the effect of multiple intra-acting elements, by introducing the metaphor of shadow organizing. It offers examples as diverse as knowledge spillover, evidence-based medicine and improvisation, and the mafia's organizational rules. Design/methodology: The frame of reference is metaphorical theorization, based on the metaphor of shadow organizing, and is explored through three metonymies: the forest and its sheltered spaces in penumbra; the shadow as a grey zone between canonical and non-canonical practices; and secret societies, hidden in the shadow. The shadow is the symbol of what is 'betwixt and between.' Findings: Shadow organizing focuses on the way that situated elements (people, technologies, knowledges, infrastructures, society) intra-relate and acquire agency. Whilst organizing as the effect of intentional coordination, planning, and strategizing represents a well-established theorization, shadow organizing sheds light on what happen in the interstices of intentional and structured processes. The paper identifies the dimensions of shadow organizing as performativity, liminality, and secrecy. Value: The passage from elements in interaction to intra-acting relations that form elements is a challenge both for theory and methodology. To face this challenge, metaphorical thinking proves useful since it enhances scholars' imaginations and emotional participation. http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/qrom

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Section: Shadow Stands For Maintaining Secrecymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shadow Stands For Maintaining Secrecymentioning

confidence: 99%

Shadow organizing: a metaphor to explore organizing as intra-relating

Gherardi

Jensen

Nerland

2017

QROM

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“…The doctrinal concepts used in the doctrine of complicity, along with legislative concepts that form the core of the conceptual apparatus of criminal law science, are units of criminal legal knowledge that, unlike legislative concepts, are regularly updated, modified and replaced by other concepts. In this regard, doctrinal concepts are not amenable to strict accounting and many of them form an archive of science, such as, for example, the concepts of -gang‖, -block‖, -complicity of a special kind‖, -provoked excess‖ [20]. In modern criminal law literature, the number of new doctrinal concepts related to the institution of complicity in a crime is relatively small, because most criminal law phenomena are conceptualized in the process of theoretical research and legislative activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovations in Teaching Criminal Law

Nazarenko*,

Sitnikova,

Baybarin

2019

IJITEE

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This article is devoted to identifying the correlation of such categories of conceptuality as the concept, conceptual scheme, conceptual system, conceptual analysis, concept and conceptualization in relation to criminal law. It is noted that in classical science the concept is understood as a preliminary organization of theoretical material, and in criminal law the concept is often identified with theory. The article shows that the development of scientific thought goes through three stages of development: from a concept (initial idea) to a conceptual scheme (a detailed idea), then to a conceptual system (a complete scientific theory). In this context, competing criminal law theories are considered: the concept of the stages of a crime (a contradictory conceptual system) and the concept of types of unfinished crime (a conceptual scheme). The authors introduce the notion of “concept” into the scientific language of criminal law to denote the mental units of criminal law knowledge, which are widely used by the doctrine, as well as enshrined in the criminal legislation. Legislative concepts are the means of constructing criminal law, institutions and other normative blocks. Doctrinal concepts appear in criminal law as a means of interpreting criminal law regulations or are used to formulate new concepts. Concepts of this type function as elements of criminal law in the mode of understanding and explanation. In the process of conceptualization, the mental images of objects that have a criminal legal significance are first objectified as doctrinal concepts, and then enshrined in criminal law as legal concepts. In conclusion, the authors note that inexperienced postgraduate students rarely use the categories of conceptuality and its parameters fixed in the regulatory material of the Criminal Code in their studies. As a result, such studies constitute a compilation review of the views of others, which unreasonably stands out as new (derivative) knowledge in the absence of a detailed author’s concept.

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“…They concur that a function of extreme killings is to terrorize specific audiences (Phillips, 2018). The purpose of such fear is to discourage rivals, deter disloyalty among partners and promote acquiescence from residents of the communities where OCGs operate (Catino, 2015; Kalyvas, 2015; Kaplan and Dubro, 2012; Uribe and Parrini, 2020). Others assert that extreme executions’ primary function is to infuriate audiences and provoke impulsive reactions (Koch, 2018).…”

Section: Extreme Violence: Functionalist and Psycho-sociological Appr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Macabre ceremonies: How Los Zetas produces extreme violence to promote organizational cohesion

Pereda

2021

Violence: An International Journal

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Why do some organized crime groups (OCGs) carry out face-to-face killings where perpetrators debase their victims and defile their bodies? Leading criminologists contend that OCGs carry out extreme killings deliberately to attain specific performance objectives. Conversely, psycho-sociological scholars argue that extreme killings only occur in situations that affect perpetrators’ reasoning and emotions. In their view, these situations are largely beyond OCGs’ control. I argue that analyzing extreme killings as organizational rituals can contribute to reconciling these seemingly conflicting views. More specifically, I contend that the OCG known as Los Zetas ritualizes executions to generate the conditions that make extreme violence possible. Through ritualization, Los Zetas influences executioners’ perceptions of extreme behavior from something abhorrent into something valued, desirable, and enjoyable. Once the conditions conducive to extreme violence emerge, Los Zetas exploits it to attain utilitarian objectives.

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Mafia rules. The role of criminal codes in mafia organizations

Cited by 49 publications

References 26 publications

Shadow organizing: a metaphor to explore organizing as intra-relating

Shadow organizing: a metaphor to explore organizing as intra-relating

Innovations in Teaching Criminal Law

Macabre ceremonies: How Los Zetas produces extreme violence to promote organizational cohesion

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