Contemporary Archaeological Looting: A Criminological Analysis of Italian Tomb Robbers

iv PREFACE. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. xii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES. xx CHAPTER 1 IL FASCINO DELLA NOSTRA AVVENTURA: INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH PROJECT. 1 Archaeological looting and antiquities trafficking. 2 The problem of quantifying looting. 5 The problem of archaeological looting in Italy. 9 An evolution of the tombarolo through the centuries. 11 Tombaroli in ancient times. 12 Tombaroli in modern times. 13 Tombaroli during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 18 The difficulties of curbing looting in Italy. 21 The prevalence of looting in Italy. 24 Purpose and plan of the dissertation. 27 Conclusions. 29 2 I SEGRETI DI UN TOMBAROLO: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON TOMBAROLI AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE DISSERTATION. 31 Methods concerning the compilation of articles. 32 Results of the systematic literature review about tombaroli. 37 Organized crime and tombaroli. 41 xvi Organization of groups of tombaroli. 46 Learning processes of tombaroli. 50 Analysis of the extant literature about tombaroli. 53 Theoretical framework and conceptual approach of the research project. 58 Organized crime vs. crime that is organized. 58 Organizational learning and competitive adaptation. 64 Conclusions. 69 3 L’ESPERIENZA NON BASTA: METHODS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT. 71 Research questions employed in this research project. 72 Research design. 73 Research sample. 75 Data collection. 78 Data analysis. 83 Ethical considerations. 86 Issues of data trustworthiness and derived limitations. 89 Conclusions. 92 4 UMBERTO, IL MARCHIGIANO, L’ORFEO, FARGETTA. E TUTTI GLI ALTRI: TOMBAROLI AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH ORGANIZED CRIME. 93 Tombaroli and the relationship with traditional Italian organized crime. 94 Italian organized crime is not specialized in cultural heritage. 95 Italian organized crime controls the terrain where tombaroli might excavate in the south of the country but not in the north. 99 Anecdotal participation of traditional Italian organized crime groups in archaeological looting. 103 Tombaroli as organized crime. 109 xvii Mandatory criteria. 110 Optional criteria. 117 Tombaroli as criminals that are organized. 125 The organizational structure of tombaroli. 132 Interpretation of findings regarding the relationship between tombaroli and organized crime . 137 The relationship between tombaroli and traditional organized crime is anecdotal. 137 Tombaroli cannot be considered organized criminals according to the criteria of the European Commission, EUROPOL, and the Council of Europe. 143 Tombaroli can be labeled criminals that need organization in order to loot. 148 Conclusions. 151 5 COME SONO DIVENTATO “IL MAGO”: LEARNING TO BE A TOMBAROLO, AND ADAPTING TO STAY IN THE BUSINESS. 153 How tombaroli get organized. 154 Looting in groups versus alone. 155 Recruitment processes. 157 Hierarchy issues. 159 The learning of tombaroli. 164 Sources of learning. 165 Practical and scientific knowledge. 171 Ways of storing and accessing information. 176 Adaptation of tombaroli to law enforcement. 182 Interpretation of findings regarding the organization, learning, and adaptation processes of tombaroli. 189 A simple, traditional way of organizing modeled after centuries of looting. 189 xviii Metis for all; Techné for some. 192 Looters are adaptable to new challenges. 199 Coda: Italian archaeological looting, nowadays. 202 Conclusions. 206 6 CONCLUSION: BEYOND THE ITALIAN GREAT RAID OF ARCHAEOLOGY. 209 A brief summation of the problem of vanishing archaeological heritage. 210 Italian looting as a criminal activity. 210 Problems derived from inconsistent literature. 211 The usage of a qualitative approach. 213 Conclusions of the study. 214 Data did not support any relationship between tombaroli and traditional Italian organized crime groups beyond anecdotal and specific cases. 214 Tombaroli themselves cannot be labeled organized criminals. 215 Tombaroli are offenders who need to organize in order to loot. 217 The organizational structures employed by tombaroli are simple. 218 Tombaroli learn mostly metis from family members or other looters, and information is sparingly codified in documents . 219 Tombaroli have the ability to adapt to law enforcement threats and to new challenges . 221 Strengths and limitations. 221 What should be done? 223 Policing antiquities looting within a problem-oriented policing stance. 224 Keeping up the pace with tombaroli’s adaptations. 226 Deterrence versus persuasion. 229 Implications of the study. 234 xix Further research avenues. 236 Some final reflections. 240 APPENDIX A IDENTIFICATION, SCREENING, ELIGIBILITY AND INCLUSION OF ARTICLES IN THE SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW. 243 B RESPONDENT DATA. 244 C QUESTIONNAIRE USED WITH TOMBAROLI. 245 D QUESTIONNAIRE USED WITH OTHER