Description
Book SynopsisFor over thirty years, modern Italy was plagued by ransom kidnappings perpetrated by bandits and organized crime syndicates. Nearly 700 men, women, and children were abducted from across the country between the late 1960s and the late 1990s, held hostage by members of the Sardinian banditry, Cosa Nostra, and the ’Ndrangheta. Subjected to harsh captivities and psychological abuse, the victims spent months and even years in isolation while law enforcement and the state struggled to find them.
Ransom Kidnapping in Italy examines this Italian criminal phenomenon. Alessandra Montalbano argues that abduction is a key vantage point from which to understand modern Italy: it troubled the law, terrified society, ignited juridical and parliamentary debates, and mobilized citizens. Bringing together archival and media materials with the victims’ accounts and diverse forms of cultural response, the book examines ransom kidnapping through the lenses of historiography
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Italy’s Extraterritorialities: Tracing the History of Ransom Kidnapping 2. The Kidnapping of the Golden Hippy 3. The Day Cristina’s Body Was Found 4. Troubling the Rule of Law 5. Trauma and Language in the Kidnapping Victim Memoir 6. The Anatomy of Captivity Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index
