La forza delle mafie è fuori dalle mafie

The mafia in Northern Italy has been able to consolidate its presence by counting on the advantages offered by impoverished contexts with weak social relationships and weak economic and political structures. On the other hand, the mafia itself has been at the centre of processes that have impoverished and weakened communities in a vicious circle, which people have only recently become aware of. The authors reflect on the habitats of the mafia, alluding to those conditions which afford opportunities and to the fragility, porosity and permeability of institutions and to the legal and procedural uncertainties, which facilitate ambiguous and at times criminal behaviours.