The Italian mafia in photographs by Patrick Zackmann

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, Zackmann'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 master's ex-wife answered the phone. She didn’t give a single piece of advice, but she described in vivid colors how difficult it was to live with a photographer. Forty years later, one look at Patrick Zackmann's portfolio is enough to say with confidence that his mother had nothing to worry about.

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

Jerusalem, Israel, 1990. Ultra-Orthodox Jews and security await the arrival of Ariel Sharon in the Christian part 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 Zackmann'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 "Outlaw", one of the leaders of the Nuova Familiglia clan, killed by one of his own.

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

Marseille, France, September 1984. A girl from the second generation of North African immigrants.

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

Villiers-les-Belles, France, 1989. This family lives in a special area in the Derrières-les-Mours-de-Monseigneurs complex, which consists of a thousand apartments.

Marseille, France, 1984.

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

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