How mafia extortion has adapted to modern times

 Yasmine Nicklaus, 27 November 2025.

The Camorra, infamous Neapolitan mafia, now relies more on quiet influence than open threats, making its extortion harder to spot and deeply instigated in society.  

A few days ago, I stumbled onto an article describing the arrest of 44 members of the Camorra, more precisely from the Russo Clan, found guilty of extortion and extortion attempts, illegal betting and corruption¹. The Russo Clan mainly operates in the countryside of Naples, precisely in the region of the Land of Fires, infamously known for its illegal waste dumping performed by the Camorra. Extortion is indeed one of the principal economic activities of the Camorra, who has been racketing local firms for decades through the pizzo, Italian name of the regular payment to mafia organizations which grants protection. This brought me to ask myself how such an old-fashioned system of intimidation and extortion continues to exist today, where we often believe that organized crime belongs to the past. 

The Camorra controls financial flows amounting to roughly 100 billion euros each year, regulating whole markets, and has become an international economic power². The organization has used the pizzo for decades to gain funds for its business and personal enrichment. However, the Camorra is so well infiltrated in some areas that according to expert Pasquale Peluso, Professor at the Guglielmo Marconi University of Rome, “there is no need to force entrepreneurs to pay pizzo because industrialists from northern Italy are completely integrated in this camorrist organization”³. Indeed, the Camorra has mastered the integration of white collars in its ranks: professionals from legal sectors that conceal, carry out and legitimize its criminal operations, such as lawyers, accountants, or politicians. 

In the Land of Fires, an area between the provinces of Naples and Caserta, the Camorra has engaged in illegal waste dumping since the mid 2000s; the term eco-mafia has been introduced by specialists to  

indeed, there is always demand for trash services. But there is no ‘management’, simply illegal dumping of toxic and industrial waste which result in environmental crimes and tragic health issues. Between 1990 and2005, the eco-mafia had trafficked 14 million tons of waste for around $44 billion profits.⁵ It was revealed later by the Naples police that Camorra clans contacted industries from northern Italy and offered low-cost disposal of their waste products, which were then dumped or burned illegally in the Campania region. Interestingly, this can be seen as a form of racket: while some firms may have accepted these services to save cost (as seen before, La Camorra is highly infiltrated in some areas especially in industrial northern Italy), others were likely pressurized or intimidated into cooperating, creating the same dynamics of coercion and manipulation than in classic money extortion systems. This is when I understood that the original pizzo had evolved to fit modern forms of power. 

For instance, coming back to the Russo case, I discovered that the clan had locally implemented what we can call a system of systematic extortion demands, which means that the clan-imposed payments on property sales, construction projects and urban permits; businesses were hence forced to pay money or give up real estate opportunities. Over time however, instead of extorting money in the old pizzo way, a strategy was found to create a legal facade: forcing the victims to use the clan’s technical or professional services. This made the clan’s influence harder to resist, as many businesses no longer saw themselves as victims. In the absence of open violence, silence became the safest option, and the Russo clan grew stronger because of it. 

Yet all hope is not lost. Across Italy, some associations have emerged to challenge the mafia’s power and extortion systems. Among them, Addipoizzo⁶, an NGO created in 2004 that invites firms to refuse requests from the local mafia and join a public list of non-payers. The association promotes a cultural revolution against the Mafia and supports social justice, by raising awareness amongst the young population and aiding victims of extortion. Moreover, the Italian Government itself has instored some protective measures to counter the coercion power of the mafia. At the national level, a special commissioner who is responsible for nation-wide coordination of anti-extortion and anti-rackets activities; a solidarity fund for the victims; protective policies and extended measures for collaborators and witnesses of justice. Unfortunately, these measures often struggle to achieve their full goal, as complex organized crime has infiltrated parts of local administration in Italy which weakens and slows the implementation of anti-racket policies. 

Ultimately, it has become clear that the Camorra has transformed its ways of gaining power and assertion; by infiltrating businesses, economic fabrics, real estate, and sales, it has shown its ability to operate with sophisticated methods. The Camorra doesn't openly kill or threaten anymore: instead, it spreads through quiet influence and subtle pressure. This shift makes its presence on the criminal scene less visible, but not less harmful, in conditions where intimidation is harder to detect. Silence becomes the mafia’s strongest ally: few see themselves as the victims of the Camorra, hence the quiet acceptance turns into complicity. A Camorra that does not rely solely on violence but operates through discrete influence is far more difficult to dismantle; maybe the first step in weakening such power is by simply refusing to remain silent.  describe those actions. The waste management business is easy to enter and lucrative to control^4. 

1   The Camorra and the silence agreement, by Jospeh del Gaudio, 2025, Chronicles of Campania https://en.cronachedellacampania.it/2025/11/politica-voti-e-affari-del-clan-russo-nellagro-nolano/

2   The Roots of the Organized Criminal Underworld in Campania, by Pasquale Peluso, 2013, Horizon

Research Publishing Corporation https://www.hrpub.org/download/201309/sa.2013.010211.pdf?utm

3   The Roots of the Organized Criminal Underworld in Campania, by Pasquale Peluso, 2013, Horizon

Research Publishing Corporation  https://www.hrpub.org/download/201309/sa.2013.010211.pdf?utm 

4   Infiltrated Markets: The Italian Mafia's Influence on Waste Management, Retail, and Economi Integrity for Illicit Gain, by Giselle Adiya, 2025, Claremont College    https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4979&context=cmc_theses 

5   The ‘land of fires’: epidemiological research and public health policy during the waste crisis in

Campania, Italy, by Piero Alberti, 2022, Science Direct Heliyon  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022036192 

6.Resisting the extortion racket: an empirical analysis, by Michele Battisti, Andrea Mario Lavezzi, Lucio Masserini, Monica Pratesi, 2018, European Journal of Law and Economics https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10657-018-9589-4.pdf