Author: Anna Sergi
ISBN No: 978-1529222449
Review date: 08/05/2024
No of pages: 272
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Publisher URL:
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/chasing-the-mafia
Year of publication: 09/11/2022
Brief:
price
£21.99
A professor of criminology at the University of Essex, Anna Sergi, draws on her experience growing up in Calabria and how the ‘ndrangheta has cast a shadow over the region, which has one of the highest unemployment rates inside the European Union and that has seen massive emigration.
Starting the journey in small villages in her native Italy, Sergi shows how the ’ndrangheta spread to Australia, Canada, the United States and Argentina – taking over drug trafficking, extortion, and money laundering. Illegal enterprise has affected innocent Italians abroad and law enforcement struggle to contain the criminal organisation which is the only one present in at least four continents with constant referrals back to Calabria and Italy.
The ’ndrangheta are connected at least three major murders – cold cases – in Australia. But so far, only Canada has been able, outside of Italy, to bring the ‘ndrangheta to trial.
Dr Sergi said: “This book has been in my head since 2015, on a day when I was watching a beautiful summer over Aspromonte mountains in Calabria. I felt deep inside the need to explain how a beautiful place like the one I grew up with has been made famous by a criminal organisation which crosses borders and commits crimes all over the world.
“The publication of Chasing the Mafia is the result of my professional journey as a researcher and my personal journey as a Calabrian. It is dedicated to my region and to all the honest people there.”
The book is published by Bristol University Press.
She’s also among the academic authors of another, related book by the Press, on port security and smuggling. Visit https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/ports-crime-and-security.
