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Fighting Mafia misconceptions and understanding Italian food culture

UCL Professor John Dickie is an expert on Mafia crime in Italy and Italian food history. His research has informed investments, shaped law enforcement and understanding of Italian food traditions.

Crowd walking down on sidewalk, concept of strangers, crime, society, gang or population

28 April 2022

Professor Dickie’s research, expertise and contacts were fundamental to the making of two TV documentaries about the Mafia. The Mafia's Secret Bunkers, first broadcast on BBC4 in 2014, and Chiesa Nostra (The Cross and the Gun) first broadcast on History Channel Italia in 2015 and then shown in more than 16 countries.  

Since 2014, as an expert on the three Italian Mafias, Professor Dickie has provided advice and research on investments that may be at risk of Mafia infiltration to two risk assessment companies. His work influenced investment decisions ranging from the low hundreds of millions to $2 billion.  

Professor Dickie’s analysis of the 'Ndrangheta supported the creation of a real-time financial transaction monitoring system created by Head of Compliance at a global open banking platform, which feeds information to international organisations including the DIA in Italy. 

Informing law enforcement and exploring the link between Mafia and agriculture 

Professor Dickie’s research (including Mafia Brotherhoods, 2011) has been used to analyse the results of police and judicial investigations and to construct hypotheses based on that evidence which have so far been met with substantial confirmation in the rulings issued by a number of Italian judges in trials that have taken place in both Milan and Reggio Calabria (described by a prosecutor in REF2014). 

In September 2015, his research and expertise were fundamental to the creation of an episode of a BBC Radio 4 Food Programme about the relation between Mafia and agriculture which drew in an international audience of nearly two million viewers.  

Professor Dickie co-wrote and presented a six-part TV documentary series on the history of Italian food tradition based on his research in Delizia! (2007), which registered 1.3million unique viewers in Italy, and has since been broadcast in more than 70 countries. 

In 2013, he joined the advisory board of the Trame annual anti-Mafia literary festival (run by a local anti-protection racket group to raise public awareness and publicise their stand against the protection rackets), which also runs year-round anti-Mafia educational and campaigning initiatives.  

Research synopsis

Contesting misconceptions of organised crime and Italian food to shape law enforcement, commercial enterprise and public understanding of contemporary Italian culture. 

Professor John Dickie is an expert on two important aspects of Italian culture: Mafia crime in Italy and Italian food history. His research on Mafia crime in Italy has informed major investments by private enterprise ranging from millions to billions of American dollars; helped establish a legal precedent in Italy to enable prosecution of the Calabrian Mafia; informed the training and activities of law enforcement and anti-Mafia professionals across Italy and shaped public understanding of the Italian Mafia. Dickie’s research into Italian food history has shaped understanding of Italian food traditions across 70 countries, whilst boosting the commercial activities of major food brand Barilla. 

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