What's in a Name? Shifting Identities of Traditional Organized Crime in Canada in the Transnational Fight against the Calabrian "Ndrangheta

The Italian antimafia authorities have warned Canadian law enforcement about the risks and the growing concerns for the infiltration of clans of the Calabrian mafia, known as ndrangheta, in Eastern Canada.(3) The alarm linked to the rise of the ndrangheta challenges the paradigms of traditional organized crime in Canada, because the ndrangheta is presented as traditional but also innovative and more pervasive than other mafia-type groups. Through access to confidential investigations and interviews of key specialist law enforcement teams in Toronto and Montreal, this article investigates today's institutional perception of mafia - the ndrangheta in particular - in Canada when compared to Italian conceptualizations. I will argue that the changes in narratives in Canada can be read in relation to changes in the Italian identity in the country, moving towards regionalization and specialist knowledge of ethnic differences. Les autorites antimafia italiennes ont prevenu la police canadienne des risques et des preoccupations croissantes concernant l'infiltration de clans faisant partie de la mafia calabraise, connue sous le nom de ndrangheta dans l'Est canadien.(2) L'alerte liee a l'essor de la ndrangheta defie les paradigmes du crime organise traditionnel au Canada parce que la ndrangheta est presentee comme etant non seulement traditionnelle, mais aussi novatrice et plus omnipresente que d'autres groupes de type mafia. En accedant a des enquetes confidentielles et en interviewant des specialistes cles a Toronto et a Montreal, cet article examine la perception institutionnelle actuelle de la mafia - particulierement la ndrangheta - au Canada comparee aux conceptualisations italiennes. Je soutiens que les changements de narratifs au Canada peuvent etre compris en lien avec des changements concernant l'identite italienne dans le pays, allant vers une regionalisation et une connaissance specialisee des differences ethniques.