Summary : This conference presents the results of a case study which examines the structure and composition of Italian and foreign group co-offending in Italy's illegal drug trade.

Rather than examining network of individuals as prior research has done, the study's main object is to assess how offenders and criminal groups of diverse ethnic origins interact and organize their activities within the illegal drug trade scene. To this end, two contrasting hypotheses are formulated. Following the same mechanisms occurring in the general market at large, the first hypothesis (vertical structure) asserts that barriers to entrance in profitable segments of the drug distribution process exist for foreign market players and, thus, they position themselves at the lowest stages of the crime ladder while Italian criminal groups firmly hold the most rewarding positions and firmly maintain control over the market. From a different perspective, the second hypothesis (horizontal structure) asserts that both Italian and foreign market players have room to act autonomously with no higher-level offenders to contend with. They develop interest-based sets of cooperation to extend opportunities for illegal gain and co-offending is shaped for the sake of common business ventures. Using social network analysis on data from a police investigation (Operazione Luna Blu, Italy 2002), the author shows that different types of crime groups tend to have unique co-offending patterns as measured by network composition and structure.

The results also reveal how Italian and foreign market players co-operate at different levels of the drug commodity chain, and support past research who suggests that ethnic-based categories may be misleading when trying to classify criminal groups.

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