Mafia

1
Mafia

• 17.11.2004

2
Readings

• Humphrey, Caroline 1991. 'Icebergs', Barter, and
  the Mafia in Provincial Russia. Anthropology
  Today.
• Varese, Federico 2001. The Mafia in Perm (Ch 6).
  In The Russian Mafia Private Protection in a New
  Market Economy.

3
Mafia

• A form of organized crime
• a particular relation to the state
• gt Both are agencies that deal with protecton
• Arabic phrase "mu afah (Henner Hess)
• mu strength, vigour
• afah to secure, to protect
• "Morte alla Francia Italia anela!"
• ("Death to the French is Italy's cry!"), etc
• Prototype
• La Cosa Nostra
• collective name of secret organizations in Sicily
  
• joined for the purposes of protection and
  vigilante law enforcement
• Japanese yakuza

4
Diego Gambetta

• The Sicilian Mafia The Business of Private
  Protection  (1996)
• an analysis of its economic and political role
• Based on the confessions of eight mafiosi
• Mafia
• a "commercial identity" that supplies "private
  protection"
• a protection industry
• (in a society where trust is in short supply)

5
Crime in post-communist Russia

• Post-communist Russia
• Murder rate doubled between 1991-94
• 5th highest murder rate in the world
• 4-5 times higher than in European countries
• Most murders in home or every-day environment
• 80 of murderers and 60 of victims drunk
• Every form of crime has increased
• 0.7 of population (about 1m) behind bars

6
Potential personnel for organized crime

• Former policemen
• 1987-89 - 47 000 policemen discharged
• 20 gt organized crime
• Former army personnel
• 1996 - 15 of army personnel cut
• Former sportsmen
• Collapse of the Soviet network of sports clubs
• Veterans of Afghan war

7
Organized crime in Russia

• Russian mafia
• protection racket (reket)
• Extortion of money return for protection
• Other sources of income
• theft, smuggling, drug trafficiking, prostitution
• All-pervasive
• Russia Wild East
• 800 in late 1980s gt 5600 in 1994
• 1996 - 8000 crime groups
• Each consisting of 50-100 members
• Solntsevskaya 5000 members
• 3 million people involved in organized crime (UN)
• Controls
• 40 of private businesses
• 60 of state-owned companies
• 80 of banks

8
Russian mafia abroad

• Eastern Europe
• US
• Brighton Beach
• Israel
• 4 billion of Russian mafia money in the Israeli
  economy by 1998

9
Russian mafia

• Critique of the term
• Offensive for Russians
• Within Russia
• Often blamed on ethnic minorities
• Chechens, Georgians, Armenians, Azeris
• Abroad
• Russian Jews (up to 90?)
• Easier to get foreign passports

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Russian mafia

• Relations with the state
• 50 of criminal groups have ties
• Profitable for the state
• Chechen vs Russian mafia
• Zhirinovsky (LPDR) 1999
• We would like to see members of the shadow
  economy among us because theu represent the real
  and powerful economy
• Relations with the church
• Genereous donations by mafia
• Use mafia to extract money from parishes
• Religious funerals

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Krysha

• Cold War
• Cover-up for intelligence officers in a foreign
  country
• Now
• Roof or umbrella of protection
• From phone number to body gurds
• In exchange for money
• 10-60 of profits
• Voluntary or imposed
• Various actors
• public sector law enforcement agencies
• criminalization
• private-sector guard services
• organized criminals

12
Russian mafia

• Mafia as functional
• Provision of various services
• Protection
• against other racketeers
• corrupt law enforcement
• Tax police
• Debt collection
• Assistance with customs clearances
• Banking privileges at criminal-controlled banks
• Selling of law (zakon) in the conditions of
  lawlessness
• Enforcement of certain rules

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Possible explanations

• Federico Varese
• The Russian Mafia Private Protection in a New
  Market Economy (2001)
• Post-Soviet spread of private property
• but
• lack of property rights legislation
• state ill-equipped to enforce rules
• gt reduction of trust in the state
• gt demand for protection
• Rise of mafia rational choice of the users of
  protection rackets

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Possible explanations

• Vadim Volkov
• Violent Entrepreneurs The Use of Force in the
  Making of Russian Capitalism (2002)
• state
• monopoly over use of violence and taxation
• Disintegration of the state
• gt loss of these monopolies
• gt rise of mafia
• non-state enforcer of rules
• More efficient reduction of transaction costs

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Other approaches

• Arkady Vaksberg
• The Soviet Mafia (1991)
• Roots in the Soviet era
• the criminal network in Communist party
• Caroline Humphrey
• The Unmaking of Soviet Life (2002)
• Roots in the pre-Soviet era
• Pre-revolutionary criminal arteli

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Mafia as culture

• Distinct organizational culure
• Strictly defined group boundaries
• gt rituals of entry
• Norms, rules and punishments
• Shared identity and language
• Nicknames
• Named or chosen (vori)
• Loyalty and trust
• Obshchak common treasury
• Salaries, pensions, bail-outs, etc
• Hierarchical structure
• Distinct roles
• Rituals of promotion
• Eg. Crowning of a vor (thief)

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Vori v zakone

• Thieves-with-a-code-of-honour / thieves-in-law
• brotherhood (bratva)
• Vori
• 266 in 1993
• 740 in 1994
• 387 in 1999
• Conditions
• lengthy prison sentence (GULAG)
• 1980s, early 1990s - money
• 1995 initiation fee 150 000 USD
• Tyumen foreign cars (potlatch)

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Mafia as culture

• Tattoos
• Distinctive symbols of group/rank/individual
• Voluntary or forced
• Eg. Initiation tattoos on the chest
• Common also elsewhere
• British
• ACAB (All Coppers Are Bastards)
• Japanese
• Irezumi
• North American
• "mi vida loca"
• teardrop tattoo by the eye

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Discussion questions

• OC and corruption a temporary consequence of
  transition?
• Do organized crime and corruption compensate for
  inadequate state services?
• Can they be regarded as a form of social capital?