About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

17 Trends Org. Crime 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/trndorgc17 and id is 1 raw text is: Trends Organ Crim (2014) 17:1-15 DOI 10.1007/s121 l7-014-9223-y Introduction: women and transnational organized crime Jana Arsovska - Felia Allum Published online: 18 May 2014 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Giulia is a pretty Southern Italian woman in her forties. She has long brown hair, piercing dark eyes, is immaculately dressed in nice clothes and clutches a Louis Vuitton handbag. Francesca is younger, in her thirties, has blond hair, lively blue eyes and lots to say. But they both look sad and uneasy. Their faces reflect the experiences, the sorrow, the hardship of their past lives, what they have left behind and perhaps, their complex present. These two women are Camorra women,1 women who have lived with the Camorra but today are state witnesses. Giulia was the partner of an important boss of the Casertano region whom she met at the age of 13. She was his children's mother' and eventually got drawn into the clan's activities. Because of restrictive prison conditions for Mafia bosses in Italy (art. 41 bis prison regime), she became a vital and active messenger between the boss in prison and his clan on the outside. She was respected as a women but totally subordinate to the men: in her own words, a woman must do what they say, when they say, what you can do, what you can't do... (Allum 2012a). She adds that when she explained her reasons for turning state's witness to one of her daughters, disapproving of her mother's decision the daughter replied 'You are now dead for me'. Francesca, on the other hand, took over the management of slot machines to help her father who was a local boss in Santa Maria Capua Vetere. She became an efficient and fearless manager because as she argues you might be the daughter of..., the wife of... but after a while you can do it alone, especially when the men are in prison. Why is it that the Camorra is still so strong with all those leaders in prison? (Allum 2012b). But she explains that she made her decision to collaborate with the State specifically to save her daughter from a criminal life and give her a possible alternative future. These first hand accounts demonstrate how women today are active in a whole range of Camorra activities and roles; from messenger, to enforcer to decision maker. The Italian National Anti-Mafia Directorate (Direzione Nazionale Antimafia) in its 2013 Annual Report acknowledged for the first time the role of women in Camorra activities; in particular, how 'Not their real names. J. Arsovska (E) John Jay College, New York, NY, USA e-mail: jarsovska@jay.cuny.edu F. Allum Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies, University of Bath, Bath, UK e-mail: f s.allum(atbathiac.uk 4L Springer

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most