Panel: Mafiocracy: state capture by organised crime
Title: Framing 'Ndrangheta State Capture in Media Narrative
Author: Grazia Enerina Pisano
Affiliation: University of Perugia
Abstract:
The "Crimine-Infinito", "Aemilia" and "Gotha" trials have revealed the 'Ndrangheta's capacity to infiltrate the legal economy and public institutions in different Italian regions, including healthcare systems, local administrations and political elites. Despite its long-standing influence, the Calabrian mafia is often underestimated due to its adaptive strategies, which have enabled it to expand into territories that were traditionally considered immune to organised crime. This has made the 'Ndrangheta the most powerful "glocal" mafia in Italy, capable of acting simultaneously on global and local scales.
The debate on the concept of State capture is still ongoing and this contribution attempts to enter it through a massmediological perspective. Analysing three case studies, which took place in different places and times but witnessed the infiltration of the 'Ndrangheta within the State, this contribution questions, on the one hand, the State capture and its mechanisms and, on the other hand, the representation proposed by the media.