A new analysis of inter-family marriages within the ’Ndrangheta mafia organisation suggests that marriage ties between less influential families may play a previously underestimated role in maintaining the strength of the entire ’Ndrangheta network. This is one of the findings of the study Marrying for Power: Gendered Alliances in Mafias, conducted by Professors Maurizio Catino and Alberto Aziani, and Dr Sara Rocchi, from the Department of Sociology and Social Research at the University of Milano-Bicocca. The study has just been published in the international open-access journal PLOS One.
Law enforcement agencies describe the ’Ndrangheta as one of the most dangerous criminal organisations in the world. Originating in Calabria around the mid-nineteenth century, the ’Ndrangheta now has members across the globe. The organisation is patriarchal and hierarchical, and recruits primarily through family ties, making marriage a strategic tool through which women may be “given in marriage” to consolidate inter-family alliances within the ’Ndrangheta network.
Until now, however, research into the links between inter-family marriages and the ’Ndrangheta’s overall power structure has been limited. To shed new light on the issue, Catino and colleagues applied network analysis tools to data on 770 inter-family alliances formed through 906 marriages between 623 families, or ’ndrine, the basic units of the ’Ndrangheta.
The analysis showed that the most powerful ’ndrine occupy central positions in the ’Ndrangheta’s marriage network, enjoying advantages such as multiple direct ties with other clans, greater brokerage capacity and rapid access to all other ’ndrine.