The Italian mafia in photographs by Patrick Zakmann (15 photos)

When Patrick Zachmann told his mother he wanted to become a photographer, instead of answering, she simply looked in the phone book to find a professional. Like all caring mothers, Zachmann's mother wanted a bright future for her child. So she called the famous Henri Cartier-Bresson (co-founder of the Magnum agency) on his personal number. The maestro's ex-wife answered. She offered no advice, but vividly described how difficult it was to live with a photographer. Forty years later, one glance at Patrick Zachmann's portfolio is enough to say with certainty that his mother had nothing to worry about.





In the late 1970s, Sachmann photographed the streets of Naples, accompanied by anti-mafia brigades. He photographed marginalized groups in Hong Kong and immigrants in Marseille. Sachmann himself recalls that his first serious reportage was in Portugal in 1975, immediately after the Carnation Revolution.

"I really wanted to explore the country and its social, political, and economic situation. I traveled around Portugal with a backpack and what I had learned. My business took off after that experience," Sachmann says.



Jerusalem, Israel, 1990. Ultra-Orthodox Jews and guards await the arrival of Ariel Sharon in the Christian section of the Old City.

Naples, Italy, June 1982. A mafia member is arrested by an anti-mafia brigade.



Naples, Italy, June 1982. Women mourn their sons, who were arrested for drug trafficking.



Hong Kong, 1987.



Paris, France, 1981. Patrick Sachmann's mother (left) and her sisters.



Naples, Italy, March 1982. Prostitutes and transgender people warm themselves by the fire.



Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, 1989. French actress Beatrice Dalle.



Naples, Italy, June 8, 1982. Kiro Astuto, known as "The Outlaw," one of the leaders of the Nuova Familiglia clan, was killed by one of his own.



Hong Kong, 1988. A young prostitute and her boyfriend, a gang member.



Marseille, France, September 1984. A second-generation North African immigrant.



Marseille, France, September 1984. An Algerian wedding at the Bassin estate.



Villiers-le-Bel, France, 1989. This family lives in a special zone in the Derrières-les-Murs-de-Monseigneurs complex, which consists of a thousand apartments.



Marseille, France, 1984.



Naples, Italy, June 1982. At a police station, several children (the youngest is eight years old) are caught red-handed after a robbery.



New York, 1987. The Uus family, whose three sons graduated from Harvard with honors.