ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines the presence and effects of clientelism and its more violent aspects which appear in mafia in the province of Reggio Calabria. He describes the gathering of political consensus and the distribution of public resources in terms of three parameters: firstly, the differences between the DC and the PSI, secondly the differences between before and after the introduction of regional government and finally, the differences between Cosenza and Reggio Calabria. Even the mafia influence in politics was split, unlike in Sicily. There was ndrangheta support for the left on the Ionian coast as well as the much more predictable connections with the landowners. Whatever the real weight of clientelism in the south, this influence is greatly increased by its perceived presence. It is impossible to quote survey data on this point but it is more than just an impression that the greater part of public and political actors in the south.
