Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 27: COVID-19 and Transnational Italian Mafias

Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 27: COVID-19 and Transnational Italian Mafias

Anna Sergi, John P. Sullivan and Robert J. Bunker

The COVID-19 pandemic has created opportunities and challenges for transnational organized crime groups, and mafias worldwide.  This strategic note assesses the situation among the Italian mafias, including the Sicilian mafia, camorra, and ‘ndragheta. The widening vacuum of state governance along with the collapse of the financial system is concerning as it has resulted in organized criminal entities increasingly usurping the provision of public goods and services and undermining legitimate sectors of the formal economy such as the banking services and health care.   

Carabinieri COVID-19 control activities to protect the public health and counter illicit trade in personal protective masks.  Source: Il Viminale (Italian Ministry of the Interior, @Viminale). Twitter, 29 May 2020, https://twitter.com/Viminale/status/1261971332302061569?s=20.

Key Information: Jamie Dettmer, “As Crime Dips Worldwide, Agile Syndicates Adapt to Pandemic.” Voice of America. 29 January 2020, https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/crime-dips-worldwide-agile-syndicates-adapt-pandemic:

Organized crime groups have been taking advantage of fresh opportunities presented by the pandemic, from acting surreptitiously as suppliers to governments, to serving as “partners of the state in maintaining order,” warns a recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a network of independent global and regional experts headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland…

…In Italy, mafia groups have taken advantage of rising poverty and economic desperation in the south to present themselves as an alternative to the state…  

…Investigative journalist Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorra, a bestseller on the Naples-based Camorra mafia, told la Repubblica newspaper, “The pandemic is the ideal place for mafias, and the reason is simple — if you are hungry, you are looking for bread; it does not matter which oven it is baked from and who it is distributing it.” 

Key Information: Daniela De Lorenzo, “Italy: Camorra mafia clan attempts comeback amid coronavirus.” Deutsche Welle. 24 May 2020, https://www.dw.com/en/italy-camorra-mafia-clan-attempts-comeback-amid-coronavirus/a-53532200:

Plagued by COVID-19 and an economic crisis, Italy is now facing the possible resurgence of the Camorra clan. The crime syndicate, like others across Italy, is trying to exploit the post-lockdown vacuum…

…Plagued by COVID-19 and an economic crisis, Italy is now facing the possible resurgence of the Camorra clan. The crime syndicate, like others across Italy, is trying to exploit the post-lockdown vacuum…

Key Information: Melissa Barra, “Faced with the Covid-19 crisis, the Italian mafia sees business opportunities.” France 24. 2 May 2020, https://www.france24.com/en/20200502-faced-with-the-covid-19-crisis-the-italian-mafia-sees-business-opportunities:

Italy’s mafia has worked out how to profit from the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic crash. From offering opportunistic social aid and usurious loans to new business investments, the mafia is all set to exploit the vulnerable…

…Faced with a dramatic increase in people on the poverty line, the Italian government announced the distribution of €400 million in shopping vouchers. The Italian agricultural union Coldiretti reported that requests for food aid from charity organisations such as Caritas increased by 30% in March, according to AFP.

At the same time, the authorities and several media outlets noted that mafia groups started distributing their own food baskets to families facing financial difficulties.  Some considered this both a strategy of recruitment and of social consensus. It coincided, too, with a number of key mafia bosses being allowed to exchange their prison cells for house arrest, thereby returning to the territories they controlled…

…The lockdown and the resulting economic catastrophe has put many small businesses at risk of bankruptcy. “Banks tend to lend little to SMEs (small and medium enterprises). They must then turn to more shadowy operations and the mafia offers them fresh, albeit dirty, money,” Clotilde Champeyrache, a lecturer at the University of Paris 8, a mafia specialist and author of “La Face cachée de l'économie” (The Hidden Face of the Economy) explained to FRANCE 24.

Key Information: Valentina Di Donato and Tim Lister, “The Mafia is poised to exploit coronavirus, and not just in Italy.” CNN. 19 April 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/19/europe/italy-mafia-exploiting-coronavirus-crisis-aid-intl/index.html:

Senior anti-mafia officials and researchers have told CNN that Mafia clans are already taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic, especially in southern Italy.

They are providing everyday necessities in poor neighborhoods, offering credit to businesses on the verge of bankruptcy and planning to siphon off a chunk of the billions of euros being lined up in stimulus funds.

The most powerful branch of the Mafia—the 'Ndrangheta, based in Calabria—is thought to control 80% of the European cocaine market. Even as the pandemic made distribution more difficult, it took advantage of the lockdown…

But Mafia groups are about far more than trafficking cocaine. They are deeply embedded in the economy.

Key Information: Anna Sergi, “Effetti indesiderati del Covid-19: sei opportunità per le mafie” [Undesirable effects of Covid-19: six opportunities for mafias]. La Via Libera. 19 March 2020, http://lavialibera.libera.it/it-schede-65-gli_effeti_indesiderati_del_coronavirus_le-sei_opportunita_illecite_per_le-mafie:

Six profiles of risk are highlighted in this article related to both mafia-type groups and other groups seeking opportunities due to Covid-19 crisis, especially the financial crisis.  These six opportunities, summarized below relate to:

1. The impact on illicit trafficking: with a specific focus on how different illicit trade will be impacted differently.
2. Drug consumptions: as above, different narcotics are impacted differently for production and transport issues.
3. Emerging markets: these could be in the health care provisions as much as in online fraud and gambling activities.
4. Loansharking and acquisition of firms: very typical in financial crisis, for mafia-type groups to use their cash to lend money to struggling businesses so that they can afterwards be taken over.
5. Corruption: occasional corruption for profit as well as public administration corruption might increase.
6. Governance and control of territory: mafia-type groups’ relationships with their territories in lockdown can lend itself to tighter relationships with local actors.[1]

Key Information: Luca Rinaldi, “L’economia criminale del post-emergenza Covid-19” [Criminal economy post Covid-19 emergency]. IrpiMedia. 6 April 2020, https://irpimedia.irpi.eu/covid19-economia-criminale-post-virus/:

This article focuses mostly on the post-pandemic environment, highlighting how the pandemic financial crisis can create new vulnerabilities that organised crime groups in Italy can exploit.

The Adjunct Chief Prosecutor for Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Lombardo, is quoted saying: “we will go beyond the usual scheme of loansharking in its traditional forms…” as the most vulnerable sectors, especially to the ‘ndrangheta, are going to be real estate and health care in the medium and longer terms. Investments, financing, cyber-fraud and public-private collusion will be the key for criminal exploitation of the post-Covid.[2]

Key Information: Redazione, “Camorra e Covid. Una fonte rivela: ‘Gli usurai hanno già preso alcune attività a sud di Napoli,’” [A source reveals: "The moneylenders have already taken some activities south of Naples]. La Via Libera. 15 May 2020, https://lavialibera.libera.it/it-schede-128-camorra_e_covid_una_fonte_rivela_gli_usurai_hanno_gia_preso_alcune_attivita_a_sud_di_napoli:

This article reports on the insights from an informant in Naples, relating to the activities of some camorra clans in the city since lockdown. Camorra families are exploiting lockdown in two ways: on the one hand they have offered some support, food and necessary products; on the other hand they have been ready to offer cash and resources to people who want to keep their lifestyle and business intact.  The informant says:

“Help to families, food and other goods, are nothing new. In the city there are areas where some deal drugs, some is a gatekeeper, some others are selling stuff, everyone keeps quiet, as everyone is involved. That has not changed with Covid. The pandemic has, however offered new opportunities, also allowing some families to cross over to near neighborhoods, to liaise with one another and offer support.”[4]

Key Information: Salvo Palazzolo, “Mafia, blitz fra Palermo e Milano: 91 arresti. Ex concorrente del Grande fratello prestanome dei boss” [Mafia, blitz between Palermo and Milano: 91 arrests. Former participant to the Big Brother as shadow of the bosses]. La Repubblica. 12 May 2020, https://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/05/12/news/mafia_blitz_fra_palermo_e_milano-256341141/?refresh_ce:

This article reports on a large operation that brought to the arrest in both Sicily and Lombardia regions, of the historical Fontana clan. They were managing a business involved in the sale of coffee, using shadow businesses men not to raise suspicion. Although many activities the clans were involved in referred to the prior-Covid period, there was an indication that the clans were ready to step up during the pandemic.

The judge for preliminary investigations in Palermo is quoted saying how “the clans are ready to exploit the Covid emergency to take over businesses—with the crisis of liquidity that entrepreneurs and shop owners will be facing, these clans wanted to intervene by using their cash to practice loansharking and lend money at very high rates, so that they can later take over assets and companies in an extortive manner.”[3]

Third Generation Gang Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the seams in the varied relationships between the state and organized crime.[5] 

June 2020 issue of Polizia Moderna focusing on the ‘Pandemia mafiosa,’

Source: Polizia Moderna, Italian State Police (Polizia di Stato), June 2020, https://poliziamoderna.poliziadistato.it/statics/23/cover_06-20_big.jpg

Different clans of Italian mafia-type groups throughout the whole country are affected differently by the pandemic closures and lockdown of activities. The impediment to mobility will be affected differently in the aftermath of COVID-19 emergency, when the financial crisis will boost the already vast Italian informal economy and create new opportunities for both criminal enterprises and infiltration in the legal economy.  From the perspective of illicit activities, mafia groups are polycrime groups: their portfolio of activities span from extortion to money laundering, from drug trafficking to fraud in public and EU funds. Not all clans have the same capacities[6].

Mafia groups in Italy—camorra clans in Campania and some Northern regions, ‘ndrangheta clans in Calabria and in the rest of Italy, cosa nostra clans in Sicily and also in the majority of other regions—form an archipelago of these different clans doing different things concurrently. Italian authorities have warned that the main cause for concern at this stage of the COVID-19 pandemic relates to the financial crisis and the collapse of commercial activities and businesses.[7] Indeed, clans of all Italian mafia groups are able to operate loansharking schemes, whereby they are able to inject cash into struggling businesses so that afterwards they can acquire the businesses should the debt, at extortive rates, not be paid.

All Italian mafia groups have been adapting quite fast to the changing conditions imposed by the pandemic. ‘Ndrangheta clans have been able to continue most of their cocaine trafficking as they have a very wide distribution network for cocaine across all Italy, which has been useful in times of mobility restrictions.[8] Additionally, different drug trafficking groups have been cooperating with each other in ways that were not usual prior to the pandemic. For example, Sicilian mafia groups of cosa nostra, have been getting more and more involved in retail distribution of drugs to avoid delays and hiccups in the drug trade.[9] Different criminal businesses have been affected differently; for example, extortion, which is an evergreen criminal activity for many ‘ndrangheta, cosa nostra and camorra clans have obviously suffered the pitfalls of shops and businesses shutting down. However, as extortion takes many forms with Italian mafias (e.g., the imposition of certain products or sponsorships), this activity is expected to resurge as soon as commercial activities start running again.[10]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic tensions and enhanced political opportunities for mafias in Italy and similar groups worldwide.[11]  Some Italian mafia groups have used the pandemic to provide humanitarian aid—such as distributing food parcels—in order to leverage their stature, enhance their perceived legitimacy in the community, and exert social suasion and territorial control. Although this is a practice not often observed during the pandemic (as only a few cases in Sicily and Campania have been reported), it confirms a typical feature of mafia groups. What differentiates mafia-type groups from other organized crime networks is, in fact, the will to power and to govern.[12] Mafia leaders view themselves as power brokers and aspire to “govern territories and markets.”[13][14]

In times of lockdown, mafia clans, like everyone else, have gone back to their own neighborhoods. Depending on the connection they have with their communities, they can either provide relief and support or exploit their power to get advantages. In the former, this will produce a sense of gratitude in the population that will eventually be useful for future political and communal endorsements. In the latter, this could result in mafia members receiving privileged treatment in, for example receiving health care and assistance.[15]

Once the pandemic is over, and the lockdown measures are lifted, mafia groups’ survival will also depend on the communities they are both nourishing as well as exploiting. This might lead to interesting outcomes.  For example, we may see clans undertaking new types of political engagements, such as the infiltration of municipal administrations or politica mafiosa[16] and administrating public funds through compromised companies, defrauding the state and the EU, as recently seen in Calabria.[17] In an ironic twist, the infiltration of mafiosi into legitimate enterprises may also include the potential infiltration of the lucrative health care sector leading to the ability to launder money and extract profit making the situation a true 'pandemia mafiosa.'[18]

Sources

Melissa Barra, “Faced with the Covid-19 crisis, the Italian mafia sees business opportunities.” France 24. 2 May 2020, https://www.france24.com/en/20200502-faced-with-the-covid-19-crisis-the-italian-mafia-sees-business-opportunities.

Jamie Dettmer, “As Crime Dips Worldwide, Agile Syndicates Adapt to Pandemic.” Voice of America. 29 January 2020, https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/crime-dips-worldwide-agile-syndicates-adapt-pandemic.

Daniela De Lorenzo, “Italy: Camorra mafia clan attempts comeback amid coronavirus.” Deutsche Welle. 24 May 2020, https://www.dw.com/en/italy-camorra-mafia-clan-attempts-comeback-amid-coronavirus/a-53532200.

Valentina Di Donato and Tim Lister, “The Mafia is poised to exploit coronavirus, and not just in Italy.” CNN. 19 April 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/19/europe/italy-mafia-exploiting-coronavirus-crisis-aid-intl/index.html.

Sergio Nazzaro, "Pandemia mafiosa," (Mafia Pandemic], Polizia Moderna, June 2020, https://poliziamoderna.poliziadistato.it/articolo/3535ed118c7b4085180711109.

Salvo Palazzolo, “Mafia, blitz fra Palermo e Milano: 91 arresti. Ex concorrente del Grande fratello prestanome dei boss” [Mafia, blitz between Palermo and Milano: 91 arrests. Former participant to the Big Brother as shadow of the bosses]. La Repubblica. 12 May 2020, https://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/05/12/news/mafia_blitz_fra_palermo_e_milano-256341141/?refresh_ce.

Redazione, “Camorra e Covid. Una fonte rivela: ‘Gli usurai hanno già preso alcune attività a sud di Napoli,’” [A source reveals: “The moneylenders have already taken some activities south of Naples”]. La Via Libera. 15 May 2020, https://lavialibera.libera.it/it-schede-128-camorra_e_covid_una_fonte_rivela_gli_usurai_hanno_gia_preso_alcune_attivita_a_sud_di_napoli.

Luca Rinaldi, “L’economia criminale del post-emergenza Covid-19” [Criminal economy post Covid-19 emergency]. IrpiMedia. 6 April 2020, https://irpimedia.irpi.eu/covid19-economia-criminale-post-virus/.

Lorenzo Tondo, “Mafia distributes food to Italy’s struggling residents.” The Guardian. 10 April 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/10/mafia-distributes-food-to-italys-struggling-residents

Audrey Wilson, “Goodbye Government. Hello Mafia.” Foreign Policy. 22 May 2020, https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/22/goodbye-government-hello-mafia-coronavirus-pandemic-crisis-nonstate-organized-crime-insurgency-charity-conflict/.

End Notes

[1] In the original Italian text: 1. I traffici illeciti; 2. Il consumo di droghe; 3. Nuovi gruppi e nuovi mercati; 4. L'usura e l'acquisizione di attività; 5. La corruzione; 6. La protezione e il controllo.

[2] From the original Italian text: “Qui si andrà oltre lo schema del prestito a usura che, come ha sottolineato alcuni giorni fa sul Fatto Quotidiano il procuratore aggiunto di Reggio Calabria Giuseppe Lombardo, «continuerà a esistere solo quale reato tipico delle manifestazioni criminali meno ramificate ed evolute». Dunque la seconda fase di fatto setterà l’agenda criminale sul medio-lungo periodo toccando settori come il mercato immobiliare e la sanità arrivando a consolidare le proprie posizioni, ha sottolineato ancora Lombardo, anche all’interno del mercato creditizio e dei beni di prima necessità. Nei settori in cui arriveranno investimenti, finanziamenti a pioggia e appalti saranno necessarie regolamentazioni importanti anche per arginare i sistemi corruttivi.”

[3] From the original Italian text: “l gip che ha firmato l’ordinanza di custodia cautelare, Piergiorgio Morosini, rilancia l’allarme: “I clan sono pronti ad approfittare della situazione attuale, sono sempre pronti a dare la caccia ad aziende in stato di necessità – ha scritto nel suo provvedimento - Con la crisi di liquidità di cui soffrono imprenditori e commercianti, i componenti dell’organizzazione mafiosa potrebbero intervenire dando fondo ai loro capitali illecitamente accumulati per praticare l’usura e per poi rilevare beni e aziende con manovre estorsive, in tal modo ulteriormente alterando la libera concorrenza.”

[4] From the original Italian text: “Gli aiuti alle famiglie, alimentari e di altro genere, non sono una novità. Nel comune c’è una grossa piazza di spaccio e lì, tra gli abitanti del quartiere, c’è chi fa la vedetta, chi custodisce, chi smista, chi vende, insomma sono quasi tutti coinvolti e il silenzio viene pagato, adesso come prima di Covid. La pandemia ha però fornito nuove opportunità, permettendo a certe famiglie di sconfinare dalle zone in cui operano solitamente, per rivolgersi ad altri quartieri e persino ai comuni limitrofi.”

[5] This is the sixth strategic note in a series covering criminal enterprises and COVID-19 See See John P. Sullivan, José de Arimatéia da Cruz, and Robert J. Bunker, “Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 22: Rio’s Gangs Impose Curfews in Response to Coronavirus.” Small Wars Journal. 10 April 2020, https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/third-generation-gangs-strategic-note-no-22-rios-gangs-impose-curfews-response-coronavirus; John P. Sullivan, Robert J. Bunker, and Juan Ricardo Gómez Hecht, “Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 23: El Salvadoran Gangs (Maras) Enforce Domestic Quarantine / Stay at Home Orders (Cuarentena domiciliar).” Small Wars Journal. 5 May 2020,https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/third-generation-gangs-strategic-note-no-23-el-salvadoran-gangs-maras-enforce-domestic; and Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan, “Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 29: An Overview of Cartel Activities Related to COVID-19 Humanitarian Response.” Small Wars Journal. 8 May 2020, https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/mexican-cartel-strategic-note-no-29-overview-cartel-activities-related-covid-19; John P. Sullivan and Robert J. Bunker, “Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 24:  COVID-19, Gangs and Lockdown in Cape Town.” Small Wars Journal. 18 May 2020, https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/third-generation-gangs-strategic-note-no-24-covid-19-gangs-and-lockdown-cape-town; and Alexandra Phelan, John P. Sullivan, and Robert J. Bunker , “Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 25:  COVID-19, Revolutionaries and BACRIM in  Colombia.” Small Wars Journal. 2 June 2020, https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/third-generation-gangs-strategic-note-no-26-covid-19-revolutionaries-and-bacrim-colombia.

[6] Anna Sergi, “Effetti indesiderati del Covid-19: sei opportunità per le mafie,” [Undesirable effects of Covid-19: six opportunities for mafias]. La Via Libera. 19 March 2020, https://lavialibera.libera.it/it-schede-65-gli_effetti_indesiderati_del_coronavirus_le_sei_opportunita_illecite_per_le_mafie.

[7] Luca Rinaldi, “L’economia criminale del post-emergenza Covid-19,” [Criminal economy post Covid-19 emergency]. IrpiMedia. 6 April 2020,  https://irpimedia.irpi.eu/covid19-economia-criminale-post-virus/.

[8] Sara Amerio and Anna Sergi, “La Mafia Ai Tempi Del Covid-19: Espansione O Contrazione Degli ‘Affari?” [The Mafia In The Times Of Covid-19: Business Expansion or Contraction?]. Magistratura Indipendente. 18 April 2020, https://www.magistraturaindipendente.it/la-mafia-ai-tempi-del-covid-19-espansione-o-contrazione-degli-affari.htm.

[9] Salvo Palazzolo, Palermo, “il fratello del boss della droga fa la spesa per lo Zen,” [The drug boss’s broche is shopping for Zen]. La Repubblica. 8 May 2020, https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/locali/2020/04/08/news/palermo_il_fratello_del_boss_della_droga_fa_la_spesa_per_lo_zen-253439286/  and Salvo Palazzolo, “Palermo, spaccio di cocaina nel ‘salotto’ della città, 11 arresti. L'avvocatessa al pusher: ‘Portami due pacchi di sigarette.,’”[Palermo, cocaine shop in the ‘living room’ of the city, 11 arrests. The pusher lawyer: ‘Bring me two packs of cigarettes’]. La Repubblica, 24 May 2020, https://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/05/24/news/spaccio_di_cocaina_nella_citta_bene_11_arresti_consegne_a_domicilio_per_ballerini_e_un_avvocatessa-197211783/.

[10] Anna Sergi, From Mafia to Organised Crime: A Comparative Analysis of Policing Models. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

[11] Lorenzo Tondo, “Mafia distributes food to Italy’s struggling residents.” The Guardian. 10 April 2020, https://www.the guardian.com?world/2020/apr/10/m1fia-distributes-food-to-italys-struggling-residents#maincontent.

[12] Anna Sergi, From Mafia to Organised Crime: A Comparative Analysis of Policing Models.

[13] Lorenzo Tondo, “Mafia distributes food to Italy’s struggling residents.” The observation was made by Federico Varese.  Nicola Gratteri, antimafia investigator and head of the prosecutor’s office in Catanzaro, made the following observation in the same article, “Mafia bosses consider their cities as their own fiefdom,” he added, “The bosses know very well that in order to govern, they need to take care of the people in their territory.”

[14] Similar dynamics are at play as among organized crime groups globally.  The COVID-19 Pandemic has exposed these tendencies as seen in the SWJ-El Centro case studies described at Note 1.  For an example of the issues related to territorial control among gangs, see John P. Sullivan, “The Challenges of Territorial Gangs: Civil Strife, Criminal Insurgencies and Crime Wars.” Revista do Ministério Público Militar (Brazil), Edição n. 31, November 2019, https://www.academia.edu/40917684/The_Challenges_of_Territorial_Gangs_Civil_Strife_Criminal_Insurgencies_and_Crime_Wars.

[15] Sara Amerio and Anna Sergi, “La Mafia Ai Tempi Del Covid-19: Espansione O Contrazione Degli ‘Affari?”

[16] Salvo Palazzolo, “Palermo, i boss volevano lanciare una lista civica, 8 arresti. ‘Se non c’è una candidatura giusta, siamo fuori da tutto,’” [Palermo, the bosses wanted to launch a civic list, 8 arrests. ‘If there is no right candidate, ‘we are out of everything’]. La Repubblica. 27 May 2020, https://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/05/27/news/palermo_i_boss_volevano_lanciare_una_lista_civica_8_arresti_se_non_c_e_una_candidatura_giusta_siamo_fuori_da_tutto_-257703229/.

[17] Carlo Macrì, “Appalti pilotati per favorire le cosche, arresti tra imprenditori e funzionari,” [Contracts piloted to favor the gangs, arrests between entrepreneurs and officials]. Corriere della Sera. 28 May 2020, https://www.corriere.it/cronache/20_maggio_28/appalti-pilotati-favorire-cosche-arresti-imprenditori-funzionari-c6cb4c8a-a0b4-11ea-9405-dd3eae1c39c1.shtml.

[18] Sergio Nazzaro, "Pandemia mafiosa," (Mafia Pandemic], Polizia Moderna, June 2020, https://poliziamoderna.poliziadistato.it/articolo/3535ed118c7b4085180711109.

For Additional Reading

Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan, “Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 29: An Overview of Cartel Activities Related to COVID-19 Humanitarian Response.” Small Wars Journal, 8 May 2020.

John P. Sullivan and Robert Bunker, “Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 24: COVID-19, Gangs and Lockdown in Cape Town.” Small Wars Journal, 18 May 2020.

Alexandra Phelan, John P. Sullivan, and Robert J. Bunker, “Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 25: COVID-19, Revolutionaries and BACRIM in Colombia.” Small Wars Journal, 2 June 2020.

Anna Sergi and Anita Lavorgna, ‘Ndrangheta. The Glocal Character of Italy’s Most Powerful Mafia. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Anna Sergi, From Mafia to Organised Crime: A Comparative Analysis of Policing Models. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.