The Phenomenology of Camorra Violence in the city of Naples: Strategies, Representations, and Performances

During the past decade the level of violence performed by criminal groups active in the city of Naples has witnessed dramatic peaks, both in quantitative terms – if we consider, for example, the number of mafia homicides recorded in the area which has been constantly the highest in comparison with other territories traditionally affected in Italy by the presence of organized crime groups – and qualitative ones, especially as far as the visibility, aggressiveness, and spectacularity of the acts of violence being carried out mostly by members of different clans involved in the fight for the control over the drugs business is concerned. This papers aims at addressing the various components of the phenomenology of camorra violence in Naples, trying to contextualize it within a wider framework which takes into account both social and individual dimensions of violent strategies carried out by criminal groups active in the city.