This dissertation studies how organized crime and corruption can penetrate the legal economy. In the first chapter I document the infiltration of organized crime in public procurement auctions in the aftermath of natural disasters. I focus on recent earthquakes that occurred in Italy between 2008 and 2016 and I utilize investigative data on participation in procurement auctions of firms associated with the mafia (in short, "mafia firms''). I show that criminal firms increase their participation in public procurement auctions in emergency-designated municipalities, particularly after relief status is declared over. Emergency status leads to a temporary increase in monitoring efforts, but a permanent positive shock to affected municipalities' reconstruction budgets, thus explaining the lagged effect. Using information on awarding procedures, I show that after the emergency the participation of mafia firms increases only in auctions with minimum discretion, suggesting it is not the result of collusion with local administrators. In Chapter 2, I investigate whether windfalls from natural resources increase corruption and how this varies across countries with different institutions. I utilize leaked information on the beneficiaries of secret offshore entities to construct a measure of malfeasance. I find that countries respond to a rise in the price of the commodities they export with increased incorporation of offshore entities in tax havens. However, such a relationship exists only for autocratic regimes. In Chapter 3, I develop a theoretical model to explain the role of political brokers in mediating clientelistic transactions between parties and voters. Brokers enjoy an informative advantage over parties: they observe the electorate's political preferences as well as their need for a private good (hospital beds) provided by the government. A party hires the broker to make a deal with the voters. The broker insures them against the risk of not receiving the private good when in need (sick) in exchange for their vote. The presence of the broker reduces aggregate welfare if parties focus on the electoral benefits coming from the provision of the private good and thus reduces the amount of public good (schools) below the optimal level. On the other hand welfare increases if private goods are delivered to citizens in need who would have not received them, had the broker not been present.

Recent evidence has shown the important role of macrophages in both tumor development and progression. To investigate the role of macrophages we used a mouse model known as MaFIA (Macrophage Fas Induced Apoptosis) mice that allows for the selective deletion of macrophages. Mice were given melanoma cells at various stages of depletion. Tumor mass was measured and organs were processed for flow cytometry to measure melanoma cell migration. The results show that mice receiving depletion treatment have larger tumor sizes and weights than those mice retaining their macrophage population. We detect metastasis in both the lung and kidney in both macrophage depleted and non depleted mice. The more macrophages in an organ the larger the amount of melanoma positive cells are detected.

Depuis les attentats du World Trade Center, il ne se passe pas une journée sans que les médias relatent les exploits des différentes bandes organisées existant dans le Monde. Souffrant d’une absence de définition large en raison de leur diversité, la notion de bandes organisées suscite une étude sérieuse. En effet, reposant sur une adhésion sélective, constante et définitive, résumée par la formule « blood in, blood out », le non-respect des règles établies par la bande est sanctionné par la mort. Exerçant sa domination dans la rue, le gang n’hésite pas à user de la violence et exerce leurs activités criminelles tout en s’armant pour se faire respecter. Ce phénomène, si dangereux et très présent au début en Amérique du Nord, tend à s’étendre très rapidement dans d’autres pays pour ensuite atteindre un caractère mondial. Afin de lutter contre ces bandes, les États les plus touchés ont été amenés à réagir en mettant en place de nouvelles méthodes de lutte et en s’organisant au niveau multilatéral. Se divisant en deux parties, cette thèse montre, dans une première partie, comment la présence de bandes organisées est devenue un problème social et dans une seconde partie, les réactions étatiques dans la lutte contre les bandes organisées. / Since the attempts of the World Trade Center, it does not happen one day that the media tell the exploits of the various organized strips existing in the World. Suffering from an absence of wide definition because of their variety, the notion of gangs arouses a serious study. Indeed, resting on a selective, constant and definitive membership, summarized by the formula "blood in, blood out", the disregard of rules workbenches by the strip is punished by the death. Exercising its domination in the street, the gang does not hesitate to use the violence and exercises their criminal activities while arming itself to be respected. This phenomenon, so dangerous and very present at the beginning in North America, tends to extend very quickly in the other countries to affect then a world character. To fight against these strips, the most affected States were brought to react by setting up new methods of fight and by getting organized at the multilateral level. Dividing into two parts, this thesis shows, in a first part, how the presence of gangs became a social problem and in a second part, state reactions in the fight against the organized strips.

Aujourd'hui, bien que la mafia russe soit officiellement démantelée, elle continue à influencer et à transformer l’identité de son «fidèle» spectateur par la voie cinématographique. Dans ce cas comme dans sans doute beaucoup d’autres, comme le rappelle à juste titre Valérie Pozner, « le cinéma doit être replacé au sein d’un vaste réseau de pratiques spectaculaires et de stratégies éducatives, politiques et informatives hétérogènes ».1Cette thèse revient en premier lieu sur les participants et les engagements de cette coopération entre la mafia et le cinéma. Avant de retracer les principaux traits de ce mariage ciné-mafia-politique, nous allons aborder les formes nouvelles qui apparaissent dans ce nouveau style de cinéma criminel très populaire et répandu dans la société russe. Pour cela faire, dans un premier temps, la recherche donnera certaines détaillées nécessaires pour illustrer les principaux acteurs et principaux événements de la véritable guerre sanglante des groupement criminelles pendant la Grande Révolution Criminelle Russe de 1988-1994. Dans un deuxième temps, nous analyserons les mécanismes de propagande, véhiculés par le cinéma du genre mafieux et criminel russe dont une partie appartient à l’héritage soviétique. Ces mécanismes de propagande, explicites ou masqués, mais surtout ayant un rôle de promotion pour la toute-puissance Russie, accompagnent cette brutalité d’un style de vie que les occidentaux étudient, afin de le comprendre, depuis des siècles. Un Etat « à part » ainsi que son cinéma, que l'on peut aimer ou détester, mais face auquel on ne peut rester indiffèrent !Ce travail de doctorat s'appuiera sur trois hypothèses :Hypothèse 1 : L'arrivée de la Mafia russe dans les circuits de financement du cinéma est aussi une médiation, une communication entre la vie de l'Organisation et le grand public. Elle s'exprime notamment par la mise en place de ce que nous pourrions appeler une « esthétique mafieuse ».Hypothèse 2 : Les attributs de cette esthétique mafieuse profitent des attributs de l'esthétique à laquelle elle succède : l’esthétique soviétique, le socialisme. La question de la conscientisation de ces transformations est une question cruciale.Hypothèse 3 : Cette esthétique mafieuse, cinématographique opère une communication publique et, donc, une évolution des représentations sociales des spectateurs. Nous allons faire l'évaluation de ces valeurs par le public. / Today, although the Russian mafia and organized crime community is officially defeated, it continues to influence, transform the identity of his « faithful » viewers through by the way of cinema. It's necessary to understand the exchanges between the cinema said « criminal fiction » and its influence on the public reality. On the one hand the Russian mafia identity of cinema was built across the international market and international audiovisual film.The originality of Russian fictional crime genre, in particular, that it was in some cases produced, directed and performed by former criminals, who also faced historical changes, and were influenced by Hollywood mafia movies lived a period of transformation in « cinema professionals », as also the professionals in the field of other arts such as literature, publication, music, television. Such was the case of Vitaly Demochka 1, the former criminal, who became director, producer, actor and writer. The particularity of his case, that he directed and performed his own « life story » on the screen, as well the members of his former criminal team became the fictional heroes of his film « Spets ».In parallel, our work is focused on the study of “communicating objects”, such as a music, behavior, language, dress code, tattoos. Which have become representative as the 'weapon' of mafia propaganda, projected in the cinema and widely recycled in reality, and vice versa. It operates not only the mythification of public communication but therefore, the evolution of the social representations and even transformation of the spectators.

KiNgome is a dialect of Kiswahili spoken in the nothern part of Mafia Island. KiNgome is spoken by almost all categories of people in the Ngome area.

Bet koks nusikalstamas plačiai paviešintas įvykis ar reiškinys daro neigiamą įspūdį apie šalį – prisideda prie neigiamo šalies įvaizdžio kūrimo. Tačiau vienareikšmiškai neigiamai vertinti tokį istoriškai ir kultūriškai Italijos tapatybėje įsišaknijusį fenomeną kaip mafija, yra neteisinga. Šio tyrimo tikslas - remiantis Šiaurės, Pietų bei centrin��s Italijos dienraščių straipsnių mafijos tema kiekybine, kokybine bei žanrine analize, o taip pat mokslinės literatūros šaltinių analize, ištirti mafijos fenomeno pateikimą Italijos dienraščiuose kaip vieną iš Italijos įvaizdžio ir saviįvaizdžio formavimo prielaidų ir atskleisti skirtinguose dienraščiuose matomus minėto fenomeno įtakos skirtumus Italijos įvaizdžiui bei saviįvaizdžiui atskirose šalies dalyse. Tyrimo tikslas lemia ir tyrimo objektą, kuris yra straipsniai apie mafiją Italijos dienraščių „Corriere della Sera“, „La Repubblica“ ir „Il Mattino“ 2007 metų numeriuose. Tyrimo hipotezė teigia, jog būdama šalies identiteto dalis, mafija Italijos saviįvaizdžiui nedaro apčiuopiamos įtakos, tačiau dėl mafijos egzistavimo kenčia šalies įvaizdis, pozicionuojamas itališkoje spaudoje. Darbe atskleisti Italijos medijų sistemos ypatumai ir aptarta spaudos vieta Italijos medijų sistemoje; pristatyta agenda setting teorijos reikšmė šalies įvaizdžio kūrimui(si) bei tyrimui; identifikuota identiteto svarba šalies įvaizdžio ir saviįvaizdžio formavimui(si); apžvelgti Italijos įvaizdžio kūrimo ypatumai ir pristatyti ankstesni tyrimai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This paper aims at analyzing the articles about mafia published in the present-day dailies of the Northern, Southern and Central Italy and revealing the presentation of the mafia phenomena like one of the Italy’s image and self image forming assumption and revealing the differences of the phenomena presentation in the different parts of the State. The main sources for this thesis are the articles concerning mafia published in the Italian dailies “Corriere della Sera”, “La Repubblica” and ��Il Mattino” covering the period from the 1st of January, till the 31st of December, 2007. It was hypothesized that being a part of the state’s identity, mafia doesn’t have tangible influence on Italian self image but because of its existence, the dailies positioned image of the State is negatively influenced. Content analysis quantitative and qualitative, genre analysis and scientific literature analysis methods were used for the research. The hypothesis was proven and some other facts regarding an image and a self image of Italy were discovered. / Ogni crimine ampiamente proclamato fa un effeto negativo sull’immagine dello stato. Il fenomeno mafioso, per il suo impatto storico e culturale all’idenità italiana, non può essere considerato come solamente negativo. L’obbiettivo di questa ricerca è, basandosi sull’analisi quantitativa, qualitativa, generica, degli articoli sulla mafia dei quotidiani, rappresentanti le diverse parti – Nord, Sud e Centrale – dell’Italia, e anche sull’analisi della letteratura scientifica, esaminare la rappresentazione del fenomeno mafioso come una premessa della formazione dell’immagine e dell’(auto)immagine d’Italia nelle parti diverse del paese. L‘oggetto della ricerca sono gli articoli sulla mafia pubblicati nei quotidiani „Corriere della Sera”, „La Repubblica” e „Il Mattino” nel 2007. L‘ipotesi della ricerca suppone che essendo una parte dell’identità dello stato, la mafia non ha un impatto significativo all’immagine d’Italia. Ma l’esistenza del fenomeno, fa un effetto negativo sull’immagine dello stato che viene posizionato nella stampa italiana. In questa ricerca sono stati rivelati le particolarità del sistema massmediatico italiano; presentata l’importanza della teoria dell’agenda setting per la costruzione e la ricerca dell’immagine di uno stato; identificata l’importanza d’identità per la formazione dell’immagine e dell’autoimmagine dello stato; presentate le particolarità della creazione dell’immagine d’Italia e le altre ricerche fatte su quell’immagine; definito il termine e... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

From the 1920s until the 1950s, brothers, Sam and Rosario Maceo, ran an influential crime family in Galveston, Texas. The brothers’ success was largely due to Galveston’s transient population, the turbulent history of the island, and the resulting economic decline experienced at the turn of the 20th century. Their success began during Prohibition, when they opened their first club. The establishment offered bootlegged liquor, fine dining, and first class entertainment. After Prohibition, the brothers continued to build an empire on the island through similar clubs, without much opposition from the locals. However, after being suspected of involvement in a drug smuggling ring, the Maceos were placed under scrutiny from outside law enforcement agencies. Through persistent investigations, the Texas Rangers finally shut down the rackets in Galveston in 1957. Despite their influence through the first half of the 20th century, on the island and off the island, their story is largely missing from the current literature.

En 1992, à l'occasion de la réforme du code pénal, décision fut prise d'unifier les différentes sanctions pénales sous la seule bannière de la « peine » ; ce faisant, l'existence formelle des mesures de sûreté semblait promise à une complète désuétude. Pourtant, à partir de 2004, par une volte-face remarquée, le législateur institua des mesures de sûreté expressément dénommées comme telles,rompant ainsi l'unité lexicale qu'il avait lui-même établie une décennie auparavant. Il en profitait, desurcroît, pour consacrer la notion contestée de dangerosité comme fondement desdites mesures.La doctrine y vit un « renouveau des mesures de sûretés ». Une telle réapparition formelle a certes des causes conjoncturelles évidentes, tenant à l'opportunité politique de déroger au régime des peines, notamment en matière d'application de la loi dans le temps, mais elle ne saurait s'y réduire ;en effet, elle s'explique encore par des raisons structurelles qui tiennent à la nature de la mesure de sûreté, devant s'analyser comme une fonction – la garantie de la bonne exécution par un individu dangereux de l'obligation de resocialisation mise à sa charge – susceptible d'être exprimée par divers mécanismes : peines complémentaires, mesures de la phase d'instruction, modalités d'application des peines…L'analyse démontre que la mesure de sûreté n'avait pas déserté le droit criminel et qu'en fait de« renouveau », il s'est principalement agi, pour le législateur français, d'en étendre l'empire en multipliant les supports de cette fonction de garantie. / In 1992, in the context of the reform of the Criminal Code, decision was made to unify all criminal sanctions under the sole notion of “penalty” ; therefore, the formal existence of safety measures seemed doomed to complete obsolescence. However, as from 2004, the legislator unexpectedly enacted safety measures expressly labelled as such, and thus, disrupted the semantic unity implemented a decade earlier. In addition, the controversial notion of dangerousness was established as the ground of such measures. According to legal doctrine, this was a very “renewal of safety measures”. This formal reappearance of safety measures undoubtedly stems from circumstantial causes, owing to the political opportunity to depart from the penalty regime, especially in terms of application of law over time. Yet, it cannot be reduced to this single cause and also be explained by structural reasons pertaining to the nature of safety measures, which must be construed as a function i.e. the guarantee of the performance by a dangerous individual of his resocialisation obligation. This function may additionnally be expressed through various mechanisms: complementary penalties, measures of the pre-trial phase, conditions for serving sentences…Analysis shows that safety measures had not been discarded from criminal law and, instead of a“renewal”, the French legislator mostly extended their scope by multiplying the media of their function as guarantee.

The growing trend of insurance fraud continues to cost US consumers billions of dollars a year through increased premiums. In 2015, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimated the cost of insurance fraud as being at least $80 billion dollars a year. Even though an increasing number of criminals are drawn to the low risk, high reward of insurance fraud, little criminological literature has explored this topic and the public remains relatively unaware of the extent of the problem. One alarming aspect of insurance fraud is the involvement of organized criminal groups. These organized criminal enterprises are formed for the sole purpose of defrauding the insurance industry. Often, these enterprises are believed to have ties to traditional organized criminal groups, such as the Italian Mafia or the Russian Mob. In order to combat these criminal organizations, it is important to understand the behavior and motivation of such groups. The present study aims to analyze the generally held belief throughout the insurance industry that organized insurance fraud rings are more likely to operate in states with mandatory Personal Injury Protection (PIP) policies. This analysis was conducted by examining staged automobile accidents reported to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The results of this analysis were mixed. Although a larger percentage of states with mandatory PIP displayed higher staged accident rate, some mandatory PIP states did not, and multiple non-PIP states also demonstrated a high staged accident rate. In an attempt to better understand this crime, further criminological research is needed.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences