This book presents an empirically reach, theoretically nuanced and historically grounded account of a highly interesting and novel aspect of crime culture. Adam Arvidsson, University of Naples

This is an original, deeply researched, and theoretically sophisticated book. I have never seen another author reveal so effectively the functioning of individualistic neoliberal practices in the interstices of state-mafia-"street," whether in Naples, in Italy, or anywhere else (the parallels the author draws with the U.S. are quite interesting). Ivan Kalmar, University of Toronto

In Italy, national broadcasting and underworld media networks share a playbook, crafting political narratives and social identities, building neoliberal markets of visibility, and mobilizing the poor as populist political actors. Focusing on the social peripheries of Naples, this book examines how Camorra, one of Europe's most entrenched and violently coercive criminal organizations, runs music, television, and online media empires that collide with state-regulated cultural industries. It reveals “systems” of cultural production where licit and illicit merge, entertainment becomes political, and power feeds on the public it claims to serve. In doing so, it challenges the mainstream understanding of the relationship between media, democracy, and violence in Italy and beyond.

Series: Volume 1, Organisational Deviance and Crime

Subject: Political and Economic Anthropology

Area: Southern Europe

BISAC: SOC002010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Anthropology/Cultural & Social; SOC052000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Media Studies; POL065000 POLITICAL SCIENCE/Political Process/Media & Internet