The Italian mafia organizations represent a subculture with values, beliefs and goals that are antithetical to and undermining of the predominant society. The conduct of individual members includes such extreme violence for material gain, it may at least superficially suggest a severe personality disorder. Since the first edition of the DSM and into the 21st century, various terms have been used, sometimes interchangeably, but over time inconsistently, to designate the mentality and practices of mafia members. Only recently has the psychology of mafia members become a focus of serious scientific study. Following broader national multicenter research, the present study aimed at investigating the possible differences in psychopathy between those mafia associates who had been convicted only of mafia association (Group A, bosses), and those who were also convicted of violent crimes (Group B, soldiers). The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) was administered to n = 48 male inmates convicted of mafia association (M_age 45.0 years, SD 10.9, range 20–80 years); Group A consisted of n = 26 (54%) subjects, Group B n = 22 (46%). Most of the sample (73%) did not manifest psychopathy (PCL-R ≥ 25) nor Mann-Whitney U test disclosed significant differences in the total PCL-R scores between the study groups. We found significantly higher scores of PCR-R factor 1 (interpersonal / affective) in the members of the mafia association also convicted of violent crimes (PCL-R F1, group A: 5.8 ± 3.7; group B: 7.9 ± 3.5; p < 0.05), this difference appeared explainable on the basis of a higher component of affective psychopathy. These initial results add to the limited literature on mafia and psychopathy and seem to suggest the existence of a specific component of psychopathy in the subgroup of mafiosi with overtly violent conduct.

意大利黑手党组织代表了一种亚文化，其价值观、信仰和目标与主流社会对立并破坏主流社会。个别成员的行为包括这种为了物质利益而采取的极端暴力行为，至少表面上可能表明存在严重的人格障碍。自 DSM 第一版以来，进入 21 世纪，人们使用了各种术语（有时可以互换，但随着时间的推移，不一致）来表示黑手党成员的心态和做法。直到最近，黑手党成员的心理才成为严肃科学研究的焦点。经过更广泛的全国多中心研究，本研究旨在调查那些仅因黑手党协会而被定罪的黑手党同伙（A组，老板）和那些同时因暴力犯罪而被定罪的黑手党同伙（B组，士兵）之间可能存在的精神病差异。 ）。精神变态检查表修订版 (PCL-R) 对n  = 48 名因黑手党协会定罪的男性囚犯进行测试（M_年龄45.0 岁，SD 10.9，范围 20-80 岁）；A 组由n  = 26 (54%) 名受试者组成，B 组由n  = 22 (46%) 名受试者组成。大多数样本 (73%) 并未表现出精神病态 (PCL- R  ≥ 25)，Mann-Whitney U检验也未显示研究组之间 PCL-R 总分存在显着差异。我们发现同样被判犯有暴力犯罪的黑手党协会成员的 PCR-R 因子 1（人际/情感）得分显着较高（PCL-R F1，A 组：5.8 ± 3.7；B 组：7.9 ± 3.5；p  < 0.05），这种差异似乎可以根据情感性精神病的较高成分来解释。这些初步结果增加了关于黑手党和精神病态的有限文献，似乎表明在具有明显暴力行为的黑手党亚群中存在精神病态的特定成分。