Corpses, diehards and clubs: Ultras and organized crime in Italy

Abstract This work will be dealing with the relation between football and organized crime in Italy. It will attempt to critically analyse the relations between football and organized crime. Its focus will be on the relation between ultras, that is a relevant part of organized supporters, and organized crime. The paper devotes particular attention to a 2017 Report of the Italian Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission which deals with the relationship between football and mafia. The analysis of the Anti-mafia Committee Report will help the purpose of de-constructing the assumptions that, firstly, there exists an organic alliance between ultras and organized crime, and, secondly, that this connection provides the ground for an infiltration of football as a business “from below”. Deconstruction will work by analysing the most relevant cases outlined by the Report of the Committee and relating them with the main theories of organised crime. It will thus become evident that there is no such thing as an organic alliance between criminal organisations and the ultras. Moreover, it will be evident that there is not a uniform pattern, but, rather, a difference between various local situations, according to the context.