Female visibility in the Mafia World: Press Review 1980 to 2001

One way to analyze the recent evolution of the female role in organized crime is to review the press coverage of that theme during the period 1980-2001. The choice of this period was guided by the consideration that investigations and observations have shown this period to be one of the most interesting for the study of the phenomenon, since it is precisely during this time that the participation of women in mafia-type criminal activities seems to have become more visible and frequent. The paper explores the nature and characteristics of the female role within the mafia organization along with its centrality. The difficulty in collecting information on the daily life of mafia women has led us to undertake a systematic examination of newspapers. Data have been gathered from press review, which permit us to run some descriptive and exploratory analyses, useful to develop more thorough hypotheses to be tested in next researches.