The women in roman mafias. Leaders, entrepreneurs and rebels.

The aim of this paper is to introduce a new term of comparison in the studies of mafia women. Challenging the ideas of mere victims of a male organization, their involvement in mafias have been deeply analyzed by many authors (Allum, Dino, Gribaudi, Siebert, Zaccaria), over the last years. In the ‘ndrangheta and Cosa nostra, even though women can’t be officially members, due to the family-based structure of groups, they have a passive and active (Ingrascì) role in the perpetuation of power. Instead in camorra, especially in the Neapolitan clans, women could be also found as leaders, although only in very specific situations. These urban women are less subject to behavior rules, but, still, they are not considered “emancipated” because their power is always delegated. A new and intriguing point of view are non-traditional mafias (local criminal groups that have adopted mafia method). This phenomenon is still understudied and particularly common in Rome, where involved several different groups. They have in common a structure based on kinship that allow to women to play central role. In these peculiar groups, women are, traditionally, “vestals” (Dino and Principato) of power but also involved in criminal activities, occupying leading roles, besides subordinate ones. Sometimes they are entrepreneurs, fresh faces to networking with society and politics. This research uses a qualitative approach (judicial documents analysis, qualitative interviews with privileged observers, participant observation) to explore the women’s role in roman mafias, introducing a new analytical framework through the conceptualization of a “roman” model of behavior.