Italian newspapers have been filled with tales from the “Mafia Capitale” trial this month, as Massimo Carminati, a right-wing extremist with a criminal history, was sentenced to 28 years in prison for diverting millions of euros that had been designated for public services into the bank accounts of politicians and businessmen.

Among those accused is the former right-wing mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, who was in office when the majority of the bribery and extortion took place. Although the label “mafia” was quickly applied to Carminati, his accomplice Salvatore Buzzi, and 45 others who faced trial for their involvement in the scandal, their lawyers have been quick to push back against using the word as a catch-all phrase.

Giosuè Naso, one of Carminati’s lawyers, stated that “if everything is mafia, nothing is mafia” and argued that using that label detracts from law enforcement efforts against crime syndicates. In Italy, trials involving the mafia come with a different set of punitive measures as “mafia association” itself can be considered a crime. Judge Rosanna Ianniello ultimately decided Carminati and Buzzi were guilty of corruption, not mafia association, even though the state made an argument that the operation was mafia-like and that certain members of the group had ties to the ‘Ndrangheta, Calabria’s powerful mafia. Gianni Alemanno has also been cleared of mafia association charges but is still awaiting trial for corruption and illegal funding of his political party.

The city of Rome is currently in dire economic straits, having pulled out of its bid for the 2024 Olympics  last year because it simply did not have the funds to continue. The financial woes of the city are directly linked to Carminati and Buzzi, whose bribery and extortion racket pulled public funds from a host of civic projects–including public housing for refugees–and shifted the funds into private coffers. Carminati and Buzzi have been in prison for over two years under Italy’s infamous 41-bis prison regime, designed specifically for mafia detainees, but going forward they will be granted more relaxed conditions in prison for their multi-decade sentences.

The two men and their accomplices may have been cleared of mafia charges but it will take years to track down and redistribute the funds they stole. Although law enforcement forces are confident they have removed the crime ring from city hall, there may still be members who escaped the crackdown and will return to their bribery practices once public scrutiny is relaxed. In the meantime, Rome is struggling, overflowing with garbage, struggling to house its population and maintain its public spaces. After a harsh drought this summer, Rome is now considering rationing drinking water for the 1.5 million residents of the city. The Eternal City desperately needs funding and responsible leaders to make sure public funds are spent effectively and responsibly. Mayor Virginia Raggi holds relatively high popularity with Roman voters and her M5S party has framed itself as the “outsider” party, separate from the corruption of the past–yet as the infrastructure and public services of Rome deteriorate, she may see difficulties.

Jillian Sequeira

Jillian Sequeira was a member of the College of William and Mary Class of 2016, with a double major in Government and Italian. When she’s not blogging, she’s photographing graffiti around the world and worshiping at the altar of Elon Musk and all things Tesla. Contact Jillian at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com

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Who are the heroes of modern American cinema? Marvel’s record-breaking profits and Jurassic World’s massive success this summer were built on ensemble casts performing stylized action sequences with larger than life special effects. The traditional superhero narrative is alive and well in America–underdogs getting bit by spiders, struck by lightning, and using their freakish talents to fight crime. Yet, as integral as superheroes are to popular culture, there has been a parallel movement in film and television that reflects an entirely different underdog narrative: biopics of infamous criminals. These anti-heroes don’t have super strength or mutated genes, they are simply violent and ambitious. Watching them climb the ranks of the organized crime ladder should be disturbing, but instead we find ourselves cheering for the gangsters, projecting our own struggles onto them, and taking their own victories as our own.

According to Thomas Leitch, “the crime film is the most enduringly popular of all Hollywood genres, the only kind of film that has never once been out of fashion since the dawn of the sound era.” Organized crime has inspired directors since the 1930s, when early gangster films presented fictionalized accounts of the rise and fall of Prohibition era criminals. These films did not expressly seek to glorify crime but they represented a shift in American cinema, in which crime became directly connected with wealth and glamour. In the years that followed, American audiences were presented with a host of films that asked the audience to sympathize with the criminal rather than law enforcement.

In the latter half of the twentieth century, directors moved away from fictionalized accounts and began cracking history books to find the heroes of their scripts. A host of real criminals were turned into heroes in modern American cinema–Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, to name a few. Writers and directors reached across time periods and geographical borders to assemble epic films that narrate an alternative version of the American dream. Audiences became increasingly disinterested in the fictionalized version of a gangster, loosely interpreted on an amalgamation of different characters. They wanted a true biopic, from birth to death (or incarceration, whichever comes first). “The Godfather” led to “Goodfellas,” “The Departed” led to “Black Mass,” “Boyz in the Hood” led to “Straight Outta Compton”—American moviegoers want a historical account tied to a real individual. This month, the film “Legend” (starring Tom Hardy and Emily Browning) will introduce American audiences to the true story of Ronnie and Reggie Kray, the twin leaders of the Firm, an infamous gang that dominated London in the 1960s. “Legend” is based on the biographical writings of John Pearson, who prior to writing on the Krays, wrote a biography of Ian Fleming. The connection between Pearson’s two biographies should not be overlooked–both examine living, breathing men behind myths.

The gangster film is a consistent moneymaker for Hollywood, promising glamour, action and intrigue for its audience. Yet the rise of the true crime story, the biopic of an individual, represents a pivot away from the escapist nature of crime films. Audiences still want to cheer for the anti-hero, still want to witness the massive robberies and shoot-outs and are still fascinated by men counting stacks of hundred dollar bills from illicit activity, but there is a different note entering this films. Viewers want to know the details behind these figures’ rise to power–their homes, their families, their weaknesses. Half the fun of the biopic is playing armchair psychologist after leaving the theater, puzzling over which events from the protagonist’s childhood made them turn to a life of crime. Hollywood still glorifies organized crime, yet the move away from fictionalized dramas towards well-researched biopics represents a new era of gangster cinema. Viewers are less interested in the destination than the journey–they don’t want to know what criminals do once they reach the top of their game, they just want to know how they got there.

Jillian Sequeira

Jillian Sequeira was a member of the College of William and Mary Class of 2016, with a double major in Government and Italian. When she’s not blogging, she’s photographing graffiti around the world and worshiping at the altar of Elon Musk and all things Tesla. Contact Jillian at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com

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