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The Italian mafia is increasingly moving from silence to spectacle, using TikTok to embellish criminal life, recruit followers and experiment with new forms of money laundering.
It only takes one emoji to spread a mafia message.
That’s the conclusion of a new report from Fondazione Magna Grecia, an Italian research organization and think tank, titled “Mafia in the Digital Age.” The study analyzed more than 6,000 TikTok posts published between 2023 and 2024, including videos, user profiles, emojis, music tracks, hashtags and brands, and was also presented to United Nations officials in New York.
The authors describe a parallel “communication ecosystem” where the symbols, sounds, and rituals of organized crime are repackaged as consumable culture, a heroic fiction that lures young people with promises of quick money and luxury.
Researchers found striking similarities between Italian and Mexican criminal strategies, including the use of music, luxurious imagery, emojis and viral trends to attract followers and build identities.
"This convergence confirms that the digital environment has become a global arena for the adaptation and spread of criminal cultures, blurring the boundaries between organized crime and popular culture," said Antonio Nicaso, an expert on criminal phenomena and professor at Queen's University in Canada.
While some groups appear more violent online, Italy's mafia tends to be less brutal but just as intimidating and persuasive.
"In the 'mafiasphere' everything is entertainment," said Marcello Ravveduto, the report's lead author and professor at the University of Naples.
He adds that the mafia mentality occupies a showcase that normalizes it, stripping it of violence and making it increasingly familiar to the general public.
In this digital landscape, the mobster becomes a pop icon, a brand with thousands of followers who, consciously or unconsciously, spread his message. It's the latest step in what the authors call the rise of the "social mafia."
Previous media investigations have noted that Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who died in 2023, quietly followed social media accounts, including those of pornographic actresses and local venues near his hideouts, to stay informed. Another early example was Emanuele Sibillo, a young Camorra boss who used social platforms to build a cult around his persona, a digital mythology that continues today.
According to the study, TikTok's short videos, filters, music, and nickname options make it easy to produce engaging content with minimal effort. Best of all, its personalized algorithm helps those who know how to use it reach massive audiences.
Here, “mafia influencers” are emerging, figures who glorify wealth and power, present themselves as benevolent community figures, and appear at civic and religious events. But researchers point out that ordinary users play a key role in the spread and normalization of mafia culture. Through duets, remixes, and challenges, they rework mafia symbols and codes, transforming them into viral content that trivializes or even glorifies organized crime.
Much of this content relies on familiar imagery from the films “The Godfather” and “Gomorrah.” Other popular themes focus on arrests, trials, and acquittals, which are often portrayed as tests of loyalty and honor.
Family and blood ties are exalted as central values of the criminal subculture, reinforcing omertà [code of silence] and clan affiliation.
Displays of wealth, luxury cars, jewelry, and brand names, project power and legitimacy, transforming crime into a form of redemption and self-affirmation. Emojis have become part of the code: the chain represents loyalty, the red heart the support of imprisoned members, the hourglass the expectation of revenge, fire violence, muscles strength, and the crown command and status.
TikTok has also become a means of profit. The study says some clans exploit the platform's live "matches," where users compete for donations during live broadcasts.
Those virtual gifts, often made with cloned cards, can be used to move or launder illegal money, channeling funds to accounts linked to criminal networks.
"The system has already caused conflicts between clans in northern Naples and the towns of Vesuvius, leading to hostility, threats and settling scores for control of the most profitable live broadcasts," the researchers said.
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