Le male vite. Storie di contrabbando e di multinazionali

The genesis, rise and decline of a business that seems to have disappeared but instead is still very active today: cigarette smuggling. Through what was once considered one of the most classic occupations of the underclass, Leogrande investigates the transformation of the Sacra corona unita, the universe of the hulls and its men, and that tangle of companies that, by controlling, representing or mediating with other businesses, mingled with crime. Going so far as to cross the borders of the Adriatic and outline the dynamics of a global traffic in which not only Eastern and domestic mafias play a role, but also multinationals. “Smuggling is always a product of contemporary society, and like it, it knows how to constantly renew itself. For this reason, questioning its near past, the forms it has taken and the way they have crossed Italy and the Mezzogiorno, is important. It is the first weapon we have to understand the way traffickers act. Their metamorphoses, their ability to penetrate the economy, finance, politics.” A narratively paced reportage that, with great clarity, not only talks about smugglers but gives us a narrative of our country and its recent metamorphoses.