Interpersonal cooperation in illegal markets. The case of human smuggling organisations in the North of Italy

Illegal markets are characterised by the absence of public institutions and formal contracts. Under such uncertain circumstances, what type of factors facilitate cooperation between illegal market actors? This question has been examined empirically with regard to a specific and under-researched illegal organisation type: human smuggling networks. These criminal enterprises differ from traditional Mafia-type syndicates, in that they are not necessarily bound by family or kinship ties, where violence is not generally used to intimidate and no territorial control or code of conduct is enforced by the criminal organisation. The authors hypothesise that elements such as cultural similarities, social control, and criminal experience are important facilitating factors associated with cooperation between members of human smuggling enterprises. The latter has been tested by applying a social network analysis to investigate a large-scale human smuggling organisation which was operative in the North of Italy. While the results do not support social control to be a considerable factor in facilitating cooperative behaviour between smugglers, cultural similarities and criminal experience have a significant effect and thus should be carefully considered with regard to the ineffectiveness of current counter-smuggling measures.