Mafia and Social Media: interview with Anna Sergi with VIDEO

Latest Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Manolis Glezos, il primo partigiano europeo. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Fátima Hamed Hossain, la prima donna musulmana del parlamento spagnolo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: LAGARDE LIST ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: La Rivoluzione dei GAROFANI in Portogallo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Kōstas Geōrgakīs e la rivolta del Polytechnio Mafie & Social Media: intervista ad Anna Sergi con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Davide Bennato con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Enzo Ciconte con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: interview with Anna Sergi with VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK8P12gOxMI We conclude the “Mafie & Social Media” cycle with this interview.The series of video interviews with scholars of the mafia phenomenon, which can be viewed in full on our YouTube channel, had as its primary objective that of delving into the complexity of the evolution of mafia communication in the age of social networks. The protagonist this time is Anna Sergi, associate professor of criminology at the University of Essex. Dr. Sergi specializes in comparative criminal justice, organized crime and mafias. In 2018, she won the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award at the University of Essex for her research on the Calabrian mafia in Australia, and the Italian Chamber of Commerce awarded her the “Giovani Italiani di talento” Award in 2018. Dr. Anna Sergi is the project manager of the C.R.I.M.E (Countering regional Italian Mafia expansion) funded by the UK ESRC Impact Acceleration Account at the University of Essex.Using open data and direct resources, previous and ongoing research thanks to privileged partnerships with Eurojust Italian Desk and Operations and Europol, the report Mafiaround Europe – resulting from the CRIME project (Counting Regional Italian Mafia Expansion) presents the first analysis of the presence of Italian mafias in 7 European countries in addition to Italy and the challenges of cross-border policing in the fight against mafia-type organised crime.The report highlights how mafia-style activities have adapted to individual countries, their economies, cultures, infrastructures and logistics networks.Due to delays and restrictions introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic, CRIME was reshaped in the summer of 2020 to co-produce an exploratory report examining key trends in the mobility of Italian mafias in Europe today. Dr. Sergi, has collaborated with Eurojust (Italian Desk and Operations) and Europol Italian Organised Crime Unit as privileged participants and partners of this project since the beginning, but the project has remained autonomous from both institutions.These institutions, together with others (such as several Anti-Mafia District Directorates, the DIA – Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate through its reports, and the Department of Public Security of the Italian Ministry of the Interior) have supported the project through interviews and data exchanges on Italian organised crime in Europe. It is essential to continue and strengthen the fight against mafia-type crime at European level. This report represents a unique effort to systematize knowledge on Italian mafias and their worrying presence in some EU Member States. It is also a valuable source of inspiration for addressing persistent shortcomings in criminal law and a tool to help practitioners in their daily cross-border cooperation with EU partners.”Filippo SpieziaNATIONAL MEMBER FOR ITALY AND FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT IN EUROJUST In this interview, Prof. Sergi explains how the project idea was born and talks about the method underlying the investigation in question, presents the results and provides us with valid ideas to continue, through ad hoc projects, the work of her research team, to provide civil society with useful tools to fight and contrast the mafias in Europe. We wanted to conclude this series of interviews by offering our readers a European vision of the problem in question.Dr. Sergi explained to us that the data tells us that a large part of the problem is Italy’s schizophrenia.Italy must decide whether the mafia is only its problem, or take the European route and say that all countries have the mafia, therefore the mafiais not special. Either the mafia is too Italian or the mafia is not only Italian, it cannot be both things otherwise there is the risk of confusing foreign countries. Many ideas have emerged from these weeks of discussion with the experts of our panel. Ideas that we will treasure to design practical and concrete forms of contrast and counter-narrative mafia. Share Related articles All Posts News Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Davide Bennato con VIDEO Recenti Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie… Read Articles Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Enzo Ciconte con VIDEO Recenti Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie… Read Articles Mafie & Social Media: intervista ad Attilio Bolzoni con VIDEO Recenti Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie… Read Articles Mafie & Social Media : la comunicazione mafiosa ai tempi dei social network Recenti Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie… Read Articles

Mafia and Social Media: interview with Davide Bennato with VIDEO

Latest Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Manolis Glezos, il primo partigiano europeo. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Fátima Hamed Hossain, la prima donna musulmana del parlamento spagnolo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: LAGARDE LIST ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: La Rivoluzione dei GAROFANI in Portogallo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Kōstas Geōrgakīs e la rivolta del Polytechnio Mafie & Social Media: intervista ad Anna Sergi con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Davide Bennato con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Enzo Ciconte con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: interview with Davide Bennato with VIDEO For the cycle “Mafie & Social Media” we interviewed Professor Davide Bennato who is a professor at the University of Catania (DISUM Department of Humanities) where he teaches Sociology of cultural and communicative processes, Sociology of digital media and from the Academic Year 2020-21 Digital Sociology.His research area is related to the study of digital media consumption behaviors, forms of social relationship on the internet and technologically mediated collective behaviors. We asked him how this type of approach can help us understand new mafia behaviors and what elements of study this technology can provide on the use of social media by online criminals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUjLKQMYg-8 Prof. Davide Bennato explained to us that his research method can provide a new point of view both on the analysis of mafia social processes and on the methodologies used to fight it. Advanced tools, such as social network analysis, can help investigators in their investigations and reveal new virtual meeting places between bosses. We also started a reflection on criminal influencers. Who is behind the mafia social media, the last link in the chain of power, the voice outside the chorus that acts autonomously or are there instead the decision makers? Are the bosses who decide how to act aware of the use that young affiliates make of these tools and yes, do they agree with these practices? From the studies of Prof. Davide Bennato it is clear that everything depends on the nature of the criminal organization and the intrinsic structure of the mafias. In fact, the mafias are distinguished from each other by organization, division of burdens and balances of power.If the ndrangheta can be considered a real network, a network between clans, the Sicilian mafia instead has a more hierarchical and organized pyramid structure.In the case of the ndrangheta therefore certainly keeping in touch with the “followers” is a more concrete advantage than for the Sicilian mafiosi and this shows how the new technologies are nothing more than the expression of a cultural and organizational logic of the mafia phenomenon to which they refer. The other aspect to take into consideration for a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon seems to be that of the economic flows that support the mafias today. The mafia most tied to new sources of income, such as betting shops, computer fraud, is certainly well aware of the opportunities and risks in using these tools.The mafias, instead of traditional economic flows, such as drugs, prostitution, have much more difficulty understanding the complexity of these tools but still appreciate the fact of being visible on digital platforms. Although in these markets the use of platforms that use end-to-end encryption, such as Telegram, should not be underestimated, which offer spaces of freedom in communications even to small-time criminals such as drug dealers or loan sharks.It can therefore be said that looking at the mafias through the lens of social media paints a picture of the phenomenon full of shadows, not uniform, varied and therefore more complex. Are there already case studies on the topic based on this method? What are they and what results have they produced? If not, what tools should be used to carry out such a study? What would be the method to follow? Prof. Davide Bennato told us about an interesting application of the social network analysis technique for the creation of territorial networks that use digital media information to reconstruct power networks within mafia enclaves. He also illustrated how using indirect indicators, such as some studies carried out on the neomelodic phenomenon, whose music industry is very often, although not always, contiguous to the criminal one, can provide other interesting analysis tools.The insistence of online mafias in various forms can provide us with new and cutting-edge tools to map the power networks on which they are based today. Another topic of our interview was inspired by the initiative “Map of Intolerance”, a project conceived by Vox – Italian Observatory on Rights, in collaboration with the University of Milan, the University of Bari, La Sapienza in Rome and the Department of Sociology of the Catholic University of Milan. The project used computational tools to analyze specific keywords to draw a map of online hate in the Italian territory.Prof. Bennato explained to us what such research consists of and how this type of analysis could be adapted to the mafia phenomenon to try to recreate a map of online mafia, which could be a useful tool for third sector associations such as Giosef Italy but also for investigators. As Prof. Bennato explained to us in this interview, there are many tools that could be activated to create new frontiers of contrast and counter-narrative to the mafia phenomenon. We have the opportunity to exploit the “naivety” in the use of these tools of a large portion of the mafia community to enter the network and start to slowly steal it. For this reason, we hope that our research is only the beginning of a more structured conversation, where data scientists like Prof. Davide Bennato and members of the judiciary and law enforcement can sit at the same table to understand together how to use their respective information to obtain new and timely information. The mafias are constantly evolving, together with our society, but sometimes they do so without much awareness, leaving behind crumbs, cookies, our task is to collect

Mafias & Social Media: an interview with Enzo Ciconte with a VIDEO

Latest Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Manolis Glezos, il primo partigiano europeo. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Fátima Hamed Hossain, la prima donna musulmana del parlamento spagnolo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: LAGARDE LIST ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: La Rivoluzione dei GAROFANI in Portogallo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Kōstas Geōrgakīs e la rivolta del Polytechnio Mafie & Social Media: intervista ad Anna Sergi con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Davide Bennato con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Enzo Ciconte con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: Interview with Enzo Ciconte con VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNeByUfXKj0 Professor Enzo Ciconte is a professor of the history of organized crime at the University of Roma Tre and of the history of Italian mafias at the University of Pavia. From 1997 to 2010, he was a consultant for the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, and his book ‘Ndrangheta from Unity to the Present (1992) is the first historical study on the ‘ndrangheta. In general, all his books provide a clear and precise picture of Italian mafias.We take inspiration for this conversation from his latest work From Omertà to Social Media: How Mafia Communication is Changing, published by Edizioni Santa Caterina, in which numerous aspects of the mafia phenomenon in our country are analyzed. We begin with the title of the first chapter of the book, which says “To understand the mafias, we must listen to their silences.” What does he mean by this? “I mean something very simple, we must imagine the mafia organization as, first and foremost, a secret organization.”Secret to many, but especially secret to law enforcement and magistrates, not to the citizens who must know about it. Silence in the mafia organization is important for at least two reasons. The first: the affiliate, the person who becomes a mafioso, whether ‘ndranghetista, camorrista, must maintain silence about the activities of their organization. So, you must not talk about it with anyone. This is the first issue. The second issue: there is a silence that envelops the mafia organization, which is the silence of the victims, who do not speak up or report it, and the silence of those who are corrupted by the mafia organizations. It is also the silence maintained for centuries regarding women, who were considered completely unrelated to the mafia organization, but that was not true.It is the silence of the Church regarding the mafia organizations, so it is a silence that involves many.If you do not study these things, you cannot understand the mafia organizations. If you do not study the relationship between the mafias and the silence of the Church, you cannot understand why, over the centuries, especially when the Church had significant influence in society, they said nothing about the mafias.Ecco perché dico se vuoi capire le mafie devi capire il silenzio” Ancient and ultra-modern: how has the communication of the ‘ndrangheta changed over the years? “The communication of the ‘ndrangheta, but not only the ‘ndrangheta, this also applies to the Sicilian mafia and the Neapolitan camorra, has changed because society has changed.”We must not make the mistake of thinking that mafiosi live in the hyperuranium, that they are untouched by the changes in society, and that they live in a world completely disconnected from what happens among us. It’s not like that. In the age of cell phones, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, mafiosi couldn’t do without these tools. It’s clear that they had to be present there too. QSo, the language has changed, but in some ways, a part of the nature of the ‘ndrangheta has changed as well. Once, the ‘ndrangheta was silence. “A megliu parola, e chilla chi non si dice,” the best word is the one that is not spoken. Instead, now it’s exactly the opposite. Today, mafiosi are on Facebook, posting their photos, saying what they want to say, making videos, showing weapons, showing the wealth they have—they communicate just like we do. Right now, young people reading this couldn’t imagine their lives without a cellphone, so why should mafiosi, who are part of this society and live among us, be any different? It’s not that young mafiosi are different from other young people; they are different in that they are mafiosi, but their habits are identical to those of their peers, and their tastes are the same. Are these young mafiosi who use social networks and all the tools that the internet offers today aware of the danger they expose themselves to by leaving traces on the web? Or are they unaware of this and use these tools even knowing they might be reported to the authorities? “They are aware and, at the same time, unaware. They know very well that the authorities track them. I believe that none of them imagine they will remain, how can I put it, free from investigations.” They are aware, but they still want to gain approval.They want to convince other young people to choose that path.Today, they have understood that more than formal meetings or a bold attitude in the square, it matters a lot to show themselves to these young people who want to change their lives, because it is among the young that the desire to change life lies.And they want to show these young people that they have reached a point of wealth and power precisely because of their affiliation.So, the message these videos, footage, and photographs send is exactly this: trying to bring these young people to their side.They seek approval, and it’s a way to tell others what they do when they are good, that their parents, their siblings who are in prison, are completely innocent.On the other hand, have you ever seen a guilty mafioso?Mafiosi aren’t all intelligent; some are also fools, and fortunately, there are fools, so at least they get caught.Some fugitives, for example, took a photo and posted it on their profile or the profile of a friend, showing a luxury 5-star

Mafie & Social Media: interview with Attilio Bolzoni with VIDEO

Latest Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Manolis Glezos, il primo partigiano europeo. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Fátima Hamed Hossain, la prima donna musulmana del parlamento spagnolo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: LAGARDE LIST ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: La Rivoluzione dei GAROFANI in Portogallo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Kōstas Geōrgakīs e la rivolta del Polytechnio Mafie & Social Media: intervista ad Anna Sergi con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Davide Bennato con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Enzo Ciconte con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: interview with Attilio Bolzoni with VIDEO Watch the full VIDEO INTERVIEW with Attilio Bolzoni on our YouTube channel– Italian subtitles are available for the hearing impaired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9xEDS-Lbmw Attilio Bolzoni has recounted all the major mafia massacres, including the murders of General Dalla Chiesa, Judge Rocco Chinnici, Dr. Giovanni Falcone, and Dr. Paolo Borsellino. He began his career with the newspaper “L’Ora” and later became a correspondent for Repubblica in 1982. He won the journalism award for reporting for over thirty years on the history of Sicily and the mafia. In 2019, he wrote his latest book, Il padrino dell’antimafia, published by Zolfo Editore, where he tells the story of Calogero Montante, the now-famous “puppet and puppeteer” of “Sicilian legality.” Today, he writes for “Domani,” the new newspaper by Carlo De Benedetti. Our interview focuses on a reflection on the evolution of mafia communication in the age of social media. If we think about how different the image of the mafioso with a shotgun and a cap—who “knows nothing and says nothing”—is from a Luciano Leggio, who in 1986 agreed to be interviewed on television by Enzo Biagi, how has the way mafias communicate evolved over time? “There is a great deal of superficiality around these topics in the media. Lots of acting, many clichés, a lot of floating information, and little true knowledge. Let’s start with Palermo. At some point, in the Zen neighborhood, after the arrest of one of the alleged local mafia bosses, who had become famous the previous year for distributing food to the people in the neighborhood, the balances change and become unstable. Then, one evening, a shooting occurs. It happened just a month and a half ago, a major shooting. Three remain on the ground, three end up in the emergency room at Villa Sofia: one has a bullet that shatters his ankle, one in the shoulder, so far everything’s normal. They return home, and the challenge, which started on the street with gunshots, moves to Facebook, where they insult each other. So, Maresco is right in his film “Non c’è più la Mafia di una volta” (There’s no more Mafia like before). I mean, the mafia is a secret, criminal organization, yet these guys go on Facebook. So what are we talking about? Is this the mafia? Or is it that other mafia, the one with the “new mafia bosses” who are in the Gulf of Mondello with their jet skis, taking selfies, shouting, screaming, and laughing? It’s the complete opposite of what we thought the mafia was in the last 50, 100, or 300 years. There’s an anthropological shift. An anthropological change that, starting from ricotta and that vegetable called chicory – as the old uncle Bernardo Provenzano used to say – has evolved into everything that is expensive, exclusive, and wealthy. But is this the mafia, or is it the image that power wants to project about the mafia? For me, this isn’t the mafia. This is the mafia of the street corner, the mafia of the slums, filled with blood and filth. The real mafia is the mafia of always, the one that makes deals with power and remains silent, the one that makes deals with politics, finance, and entrepreneurship. ” In recent years, we’ve witnessed the proliferation on Facebook of groups and pages that spread mafia messages. A striking example is the case of the group “Onore è dignità” (Honor and Dignity), which garnered almost 20,000 followers and was later discovered to have been created by Vincenzo Torcasio, a boss of a ‘Ndrangheta clan who was subsequently sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2017. What are the risks and dangers surrounding such a phenomenon? The fact that a more or less influential mafioso can, through social media, send these criminal messages to citizens, what risk does it represent? “The risks are many, you gave this example, but shall we talk about the son of Totò Riina who has his own page? Shall we talk about Totò Riina’s first son-in-law, Tony Ciavarello, who intervenes on Facebook and makes threats to my journalist colleagues? The risks are enormous. I’m going to tell you something that few know because I kept it fairly private, but this is the occasion to talk about it. Two and a half years ago, I had a blog on Repubblica, which is now on Domani. At a certain point, I asked the President of the Senate Grasso, a bishop, Minister of Justice Orlando, 5 or 6 DIA officers, and 5 or 6 famous magistrates for a statement on May 23rd, and each of them gave me a reflection that I started publishing on my blog. After two or three days, Facebook blocked everything. So, it blocked the President of the Senate, the Minister of Justice, a bishop, 5 DIA officials, 5 high-ranking magistrates, all of whom made interventions that were neither obscene nor out of line. They were memories of Doctor Falcone and Doctor Borsellino. Why did this happen? Because someone intervened. They reported these posts, which Facebook, without conducting an inquiry, but with the infamous algorithm, censored. So, this tool is terrifying. If “Onore è rispetto” is online, if Riina’s son can do it and then the President of the Senate or the Minister of Justice cannot intervene, there is something extraordinarily dangerous. Couldn’t it be a useful tool to investigate starting from

Mafias & Social Media: mafia communication in the age of social networks

Latest Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Manolis Glezos, il primo partigiano europeo. ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Fátima Hamed Hossain, la prima donna musulmana del parlamento spagnolo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: LAGARDE LIST ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: La Rivoluzione dei GAROFANI in Portogallo ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Kōstas Geōrgakīs e la rivolta del Polytechnio Mafie & Social Media: intervista ad Anna Sergi con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Davide Bennato con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Enzo Ciconte con VIDEO Mafie & Social Media: Mafia Communication in the Age of Social Media Mafias & Social Media: Mafia Communication in the Age of Social Networks is the latest communication campaign by Giosef Italy. With the support of the Fondazione Progetto Legalità ONLUS in memory of Paolo Borsellino and all other victims of the mafia – an initiative by the National Association of Magistrates of Palermo – we have created a series of video interviews focused on the evolution of mafia communication in the social media era. Mafiosi are increasingly turning to the internet, they are present on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and have decided to occupy this open space for all, despite the intrinsic oxymoron with the “secrecy” of the criminal organizations to which they belong. “If the old rules were still in place, mafiosi wouldn’t even have approached these new means of communication, which leave indelible traces that cannot be erased. On their profiles, or those of their relatives or trusted friends, you can read daily ideas, thoughts, ways of speaking, expressions of joy, anger, or hate, desires, aspirations, coded messages, veiled threats, reprimands, invectives, double meanings: there is a world coming to light, and it’s good to observe it carefully.” [Enzo Ciconte, From Omertà to Social Networks: How Mafia Communication is Changing, Edizioni Santa Caterina] How has mafia communication evolved over the years?What cultural processes underlie the adaptation of mafias to modern communication systems?Who are the mafias online? Which channels do they use? What do they communicate and to whom? What are the risks of their online presence for social media users? How aware are people of this phenomenon? Are there journalistic investigations, inquiries, or trials based on criminal activities found on social media? What tools have the police and judiciary implemented to counteract this phenomenon? How to create effective counter-narratives to address the problem?How to adapt data analysis science to investigations against crime bosses?Beyond trials and penalties, what are the concrete tools available to civil society to combat mafias in 2021? These questions serve as the starting point for our series of interviews. We reached out to a panel of mafia experts who, week after week, will analyze the phenomenon from different perspectives, aiming to provide the most comprehensive picture of the issue possible. Journalists, university professors, representatives of associations, as well as judges and police officers. Different viewpoints, but a shared common goal: to fight the mafias, stop their criminal messages, and equip citizens with the necessary tools to defend themselves. We chose the month of May for this project because we believe that the sacrifice of journalists, judges, police officers, and all those who have lost their lives fighting the mafias should be honored with concrete and practical actions. Doctor Giovanni Falcone used to say that the mafia is a “human phenomenon,” and as such, it can be understood and studied with the intent to break free from a pattern that constantly frames it in stereotypes and repetitive rhetoric. Share Related articles All Posts News Mafie & Social Media: intervista ad Anna Sergi con VIDEO Recenti Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie… Read Articles Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Davide Bennato con VIDEO Recenti Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie… Read Articles Mafie & Social Media: intervista a Enzo Ciconte con VIDEO Recenti Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie… Read Articles Mafie & Social Media: intervista ad Attilio Bolzoni con VIDEO Recenti Intervista a Giosef Italy per Rai Parlamento ESC FACTOR storie d’Europa: Maria Gil, Donna, Cigana, Attivista. ESC FACTOR storie… Read Articles