Meet the Inbetweeners : Exploring the Quality and Stregth in the Mafia Capitale network in Rome

This chapter looks at the network of Mafia Capitale, in particular focusing on the quality of ties among the World Above, the World Below and the in-betweeners. It focuses on the characteristics of a modern mafia group; this could open up new debates around organised crime groups’ strategies of infiltration in the public sector, including outside of Italy. The chapter discusses the traditional literature on social network analysis, organised crime and criminal networks. It explores the types of relationships among the main players of the Mafia Capitale network by performing a content and discourse analysis of intercepted communications as transcribed in the main judicial documents presented by the Antimafia prosecutors in Rome. The chapter provides an exploration of the Mafia Capitale network as presented by the authorities in the two years following the arrests. It describes the state of the trial and its outcome and explains the literature on network analysis relevant to a qualitative analysis of terrorist group.