IL GRIFONE
How technology is changing the face of the 'Ndrangheta

Cover of IL GRIFONE
Category: Mafia
Author: Nicola Gratteri , Antonio Nicaso
Publisher: Mondadori
Pages: 180
Price: €18.00
ISBN: 8804782366
Year: 2023
Visits: 6909

Review
In an increasingly interconnected world, where distances are canceled out by a click and virtual meeting places are replacing real ones, even mafias are learning to adapt: ??exploiting the potential of technology, they enter the digital space as if it were a new territory of conquest.

Once again, organized crime proves to be extremely flexible and capable of keeping up with the times. It no longer uses rude and cheeky little boys, but skilled professionals with skills in the IT and financial sector. Its weapons today are highly sophisticated hardware and software, which allow it to insinuate itself into the darkest corners of the web, protected not by the ancient silence, but by the anonymity that digital space allows us to maintain. The "discovery" of cryptocurrencies, then, has opened up lucrative and unexpected prospects, if we consider that in 2022 the volume of illicit transactions reached a record of 20.6 billion euros.

Nicola Gratteri and Antonio Nicaso illustrate this metamorphosis by citing figures and documents, demonstrating the fact that the mafia, and in particular the 'Ndrangheta, now acts on a global scale, dealing drugs, laundering money, carrying out financial scams and selling weapons in every part of the planet, without even having to leave home.

In this peculiar process of hybridization, the 'Ndrangheta, like the mythological griffin, simultaneously embodies traditional "values" and new demands, making the boundaries between legality and illegality increasingly fluid. Law enforcement agencies, consequently, find themselves faced with unprecedented challenges, which must be faced with the awareness that, in a transnational dimension, it is necessary to overcome political, cultural and legal differences in the name of a common objective: to protect society and future generations from the pitfalls of "a silent mafia", very skilled in the art of mimicry and metamorphosis.