"Is the Mafia decades ahead of us?" - Interview with our office manager, Dr. Árpád Vásárhelyi on Reaktor Podcast

The mafia has at least four concepts, as I usually try to summarise it. The first is that there is the proper noun, which is the proper noun of the organisation operating in Sicily. We also call it mafia in Hungary, in Italy it's spelled with a capital M and one f because it's a proper noun.

The mafia is not only a criminal organisation, but also a phenomenon based on social structures. It is characterised by a rigid hierarchy and a strict set of rules, which once guaranteed loyalty through life-threatening punishments. Over time, however, there have been changes: more and more "repentants" (former members of the organisation) are sharing informations with the authorities, and there are now those who are able to leave the system. Nevertheless, the mafia's capacity for evolution and renewal is remarkable, as it always finds its place in a new social and economic context.

The Mafia's Roots and Its Ability to Adapt

If we look back to the roots, we're actually talking about a 500-year-old history here, which was an existing phenomenon as early as the early 1600s, late 1500s, the roots of the classic mafia activity that we're talking about in Italian terms, which started in Western Sicily. For this reason alone, the mafia's capacity for evolution and renewal should not be underestimated. If this organisation had not been able to adapt to the new challenges of the world, it would not exist. But it could, and still can.

The Mafia's Goals and Challenges

The Mafia's goals remain the same: to gain and retain power, and to make and accumulate money and capital. The key to its history has been its ability to adapt to the transition from an agrarian society to an industrial and then to a service society. Social mobility, the openness of younger generations and globalisation have brought new challenges, but the adaptability of the mafia has ensured its survival to date. The question is whether social progress will be able to prevent and eventually eradicate this centuries-old system.

The Mafia's Hierarchical Structure

The mafia is a hard hierarchical system, a hierarchical system that we tend to draw as a classic triangle: at the bottom there are the executive soldiers who carry out the activities that enable the organisation to achieve its power and influence and its ability to accumulate capital. At the top, there is a layer of middle management who move, direct and operate these soldiers. And at the very top is the so-called dome, which is the board of directors of the biggest, most powerful regional leaders, which actually manages and runs the whole system. It is not a democratic system. To think that you elect somebody here is 'forgetful', it doesn't work that way. Hard power, force. The blood system, which again is usually stressed quite often, is almost irrelevant here. It's not a blood system, the mafia family is not a blood system. The clans are not organised on the basis of blood, they are organised on the basis of interest and power.

The Mafia's Success in the Italian Economic Miracle

The economic miracle from '58 to roughly '66, '67 in Italy was a success story for the mafia, not just for the Italian economy. And everyone thought that the mafia would get stuck into that agrarian society, that post-feudal agrarian society, but that's not what happened, it was able to change with it.

You can find the article here: https://reaktor.hu/2024/11/28/a_maffia_tortenete_minden_amit_tudni_akartal

You can find the podcast here: https://youtu.be/N0yLktb8nx8