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This study aims to investigate transition patterns originating from the confiscation of mafia-type firms, examining public administrations and nonprofit organizations' roles.

This study investigates the case of “Calcestruzzi Ericina Libera,” a firm located in Sicily and confiscated from the Mafia in 1996. The analysis covers an extended period (approximately 25 years).

The empirical analysis documents the pivotal role of informal networks, comprising public administrations and nonprofit organizations. Confiscation processes are successful if transition management strategies are governed through a network and a collaborative approach is followed after the confiscation to support the firm.

Mafia-type firms have been examined academically from different perspectives, but few studies have focused on the steps taken after their confiscation.

This paper aims to look at the case of Italy, which clearly stands out in its relationship with organised crime. The recognition that money is the “lifeblood” of OC has resulted in the implementation of what we can refer to as the anti-money laundering (AML) regime, which backs the systematic targeting of mafia assets and the application of severe obstacles to the concealment of dirty money through increased financial surveillance. This paper discusses the financialisation of counter-mafia strategies, with the purpose of questioning the extent to which this system has been delivering what it promised.

The paper is divided into three chapters. The first chapter looks at the relationship between Italian mafia and dirty money. The second chapter discusses the rationale and pillars of the AML regime. Finally, the last section examines and discusses recent evidence of the outcome of AML policies, by looking at figures as reported by relevant entities, such as the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Europol, the Italian Ministry of Interior and the Direzione Investigativa Anti-Mafia (DIA).

Evidence suggests that financial surveillance, the first pillar of the AML regime, is much costlier than it is beneficial to society. Reporting of suspicions has rocketed in the past years, bringing very little change to yearly ML convictions, and being only marginally helpful in mafia-related investigations, confiscations and arrests. The confiscation of assets from mafia members, i.e. the second pillar of the AML regime, has proven to be effective in gaining control over large sums and goods. However, more research is needed around the question of confiscated asset-management and desirable re-investment opportunities.

As the AML regime gains in prominence internationally, it is of great value to assess its achievements so far. This is especially true of a country like Italy, which suffers from a long-standing mafia dominance. This paper represents a modest initial inquiry, which will hopefully be complemented by future research to come to an in-depth understanding of the value and limitations of an AML regime in fighting OC.

Being territoriality a distinctive feature of mafia groups, the purpose of this paper is to study how the production of space contributes to the reproduction of such organisations by reinforcing their norms and values.

The paper provides an ethnographic account of the regeneration of space for the establishment of legal worker cooperatives in previous mafia territories. It aims to illuminate, by contrast, how space reflects the social construction of the mafia governance.

The account of non-compliant spatial practices of legal worker cooperatives in the area of Caserta (aka Gomorrah) elucidates how mafia groups set great value on space, making sense of the societal dimension of territoriality for Italian organised crime.

Compared to the current literature, this paper explores the link between space and organised crime not only in ecological terms but also in cultural ones. Furthermore, it suggests an alternative methodology for accessing the unspoken of the mafia phenomenon.

The account of the reterritorialisation process provided in this paper raises several policy implications for the fight against the mafia.

The paper focuses on territoriality for a more comprehensive understanding of the mafia phenomenon, attempting to conciliate the idiosyncratic aspects of Italian criminal networks with a more general framework of analysis for the study of organised crime. It also bridges between the organised crime topic and the sociology of space.

As indicated in the Italian law (No. 109-1996), agri-food co-operatives can also play a role in combatting mafia-type systems by choosing to grow their food products in lands confiscated from mafia-type organisations. These food products provide individuals with a new opportunity to fight criminal organisations on the marketplace. The purpose of this study is to explore how people react to a social marketing initiative devoted to promoting food “buycotting” to counteract mafia-type organisations in Italy.

The data were obtained from a convenience sample of 339 Italians, and the study adopted a model inspired by the general theory of marketing ethics. A structural equation model was applied to estimate both the parameter and coefficient functions.

Individuals recognise the ethical value of “buycotting”. However, they perceive this form of critical choice as not yet being fully effective in counteracting mafia-type systems in Italy.

The results suggest that promotional and psychological approaches from marketing literature can be effectively used to influence the consumer’s ethical judgement by selectively communicating and emphasising the benefits of the critical consumption investigated.

This is one of the first studies to address consumers’ ethical judgments and their reactions towards buycotting food as a critical choice to reward socially responsible corporations.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze what happens to a business model when the governance of the focal organization changes, particularly when it has to re-shape its transactional network.

The paper reviews literature on governance structure of criminal organizations and uses two case studies to show two different approaches in re-shaping the business transactional network after the seizure from Mafia organization.

The paper finds three different approaches about governance structure in criminal organizations and describes what happens to a business model when the governance of the focal organization changes as is the case of the seizure and confiscation of Mafia businesses. The paper shows that when a judicial administrator is able to effectively build a new transactional network, the business he manages can survive and can also give good performance.

The paper provides two business cases, but this is not enough to give empirical evidence; this could be provided through other case studies or through quantitative methods using surveys or data provided by the Italian courts.

The paper has some potential managerial implications, in particular for the judicial administrator. He should encourage the construction of a new transactional network, first analyzing the existing network, going deeply into the content and the motivators of the relationships with the stakeholders, and deciding if such relationships can be re-formulated or must be left.

The originality of the paper is that it analyzes criminal organizations using well-known approaches, applying them to the case of seized and confiscated business.

The third sector is a producer of trust and positive social interactions, while the mafias destroy trust and social norms. Confiscation of assets and reusing confiscated assets are important tools from an economic and symbolic point of view for contrasting the mafias and promoting a sustainable and fair economy. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of the third sector for reusing confiscated assets.

The paper is based on a theoretical analysis of why a third sector role is utilized for reusing confiscated assets, thus focusing on the economic, social and cultural dimensions. Italian legislation and data are presented for showing the relevant and innovative role of the third sector for reusing confiscated assets. A case study of the city of Forlì, based in Northern Italy, is presented and is of particular interest because it is a part of Italy that does not have a historical presence of the mafias. The University of Bologna is now a partner of the project through the Observatory of Legality. Five hectares of confiscated, urban land have been given to two social cooperatives for organic agriculture and social gardening, which are managed by disadvantaged people working in the cooperatives.

The case study offers useful implications for other national and international situations. The results support that the third sector can be an effective partner in managing and restoring the goods to their community.

A suggested focus on a European framework toward a more integrated approach for reusing confiscated assets.

An opportunity for policy decisions to be made toward a stronger approach for reusing confiscated assets via the third sector and civil society actors, starting from positive cases, such as the Forlì case study.

Possibility of a stronger civic engagement for reusing confiscated assets previously owned by mafias.

Scaling up from a pioneering activity to a large-scale network of social enterprises and partnerships could make the difference.

The paper aims to investigate pro-social behaviour of Italian consumers during the decision-making process of buying food produced in lands confiscated from Mafia-type organisations. This is assumed as a form of buycotting, thus as an ethical purchasing choice to contribute to social change.

Data from 339 interviews were elaborated with a cluster analysis. The difference between groups was confirmed using MANOVA, whereas the multivariate multiple regression analysis was carried out to assess the difference between clusters.

Three types of consumer groups are identified: absolutists, exceptionists and subjectivists. Coherent with previous studies, findings also highlight the relevance of information acquisition and of the self-effectiveness perception as key factors to stimulate pro-social behaviours.

With a social marketing perspective, the paper offers useful suggestions to promote political consumerism as a critical choice to contribute to fight against Mafia-type organisations and to spread a culture of lawfulness.

This paper aims to analyse the different forms of liability that might apply under Italian private law to anti-mafia advisors who negligently perform their duties, with particular regards to auditors concerning the drafting of mandatory anti-mafia certificates as bidding documents for public procurement contracts.

The analysis is based on the comparative law methodology of dissociation of “legal formants”, that is, on the study of separate contributions by each element of the legal system – from black-letter provisions to judicial dicta, from scholars’ arguments to administrative practices – to the making of legal rules in a given setting.

Neither case law nor academic writing is abundant on this topic. Yet, it can be fairly assumed that an advisor who negligently drafts anti-mafia certificates might incur both contractual and tortious liability.

The paper investigates an area, which has so far been largely unexplored, and, thus, contributes to paving the way for a better understanding of the legal framework applicable to the cases under examination.

This paper aims to focus on the Sicilian mafia, exploring its evolution and the challenges it poses today for the economy.

The paper takes the form of a discussion of the issues.

The present situation of Sicilian organised crime is the result both of a long historical evolution and of the modern development of the economy in the era of globalization. The modern Sicilian mafia represents a threat to democracy, operating both as an enterprise syndicate, in the context of economic globalization, and as a power syndicate, that exacts extortion tax from all the businesses in a given area.

Illustrates the new challenges launched by “Cosa Nostra” and the key role to be played by the development of common evidentiary processes across the common law and civil law systems of criminal procedure in Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how accounting is used to disguise and carry out money laundering activities in specific socio-economic and political contexts and whether discretionary accruals can provide evidence of such illicit practices performed through legally registered Mafia firms (LMFs).

The study is based on a sample of 224 Italian firms identified as LMFs, due to having been confiscated by judicial authorities because of their owners being accused of Mafia-type association. Using a multivariate regression model, specifically developed discretionary accrual proxies for LMFs are compared with those of a population of lawful firms (LWFs).

The results reveal that in the pre-confiscation years, LMFs manage aggregate, revenue and expense accruals more than LWFs do, in order to smooth earnings and disguise/carry out money laundering. In contrast, in the post-confiscation years, there is no significant difference in the level of accrual management between LMFs and LWFs, as a consequence of the effective intervention of legal administrators.

This study adopts discretionary revenue and expense accrual proxies that provide additional insight into the simultaneous manipulation of revenues and expenses, linked to money laundering, which may not be fully detected by traditional aggregate accrual models. Furthermore, it suggests that the incentive for LMFs to manage accruals may be fostered by the irrelevance of their financial statements to trades with stakeholders. Finally, this paper may provide regulators with financial accounting signals which could be included in risk assessment models aiming to detect money laundering activities within firms.