Mapping Crime: An Analysis of a Crime Network during the Crimean War

This project explores the collaborative efforts between the Ottoman Empire and the newly emerging Italian nation in combating a transnational criminal network that emerged during the Crimean War (1853-56). Amid the political upheaval of the Crimean conflict and Italian Risorgimento, a diverse group of wartime profiteers – soldiers, artisans, and career lawyers - took the opportunity to engage in large-scale forgery. The project examines the ways in which Ottoman diplomatic networks and communication channels across Mediterranean port cities formed a close collaboration against this crime. By applying network analysis and digital tools to historical data, this project traces social interactions, identifies key actors, and illustrates patterns of trans-imperial criminal network.

This project is conducted as part of Sabancı University PURE (Program for Undergraduate Research) program.

This project draws on a diverse array of primary sources from Ottoman archives, which include diplomatic correspondences, police reports, court proceedings, consular dispatches, and newspaper articles.

The project employs historical network analysis as its core methodology. This method combines close reading of archival documents with digital tools and computational analysis for mapping and analyzing relationships among people, locations and state apparatus. Through careful examination of primary sources, we manually identified key actors, their roles and affiliations within the criminal network. These data are processed through network analysis software Gephi and Leaflet.js to visualize the spatial and relational dimensions of the crime network and the diplomatic communication channels to track them.

After the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), European powers were resolute in avoiding any future international conflict similar to Napoleon Bonaparte's military campaign. Symbolizing this new era of diplomacy, the Concert of Europe struggled to withstand the waves of revolution that soon erupted. Therefore, the 1815 Congress of Vienna sought to establish a world order grounded in international law, with the aim of maintaining public order and political stability. The police networks established across Europe during the Restoration period were limited in their effect in curbing growing unrest and political agitation.

1. Eugéne Delacroix, La Liberté guidant le people (Liberty Leading the People), 1830 – Louvre Museum

The Crimean War (1853-56) was a major military conflict fought primarily on the Crimean Peninsula between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, Britain, France, and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. The war fueled by tensions over the rights of Catholic and Orthodox Christians in Jerusalem and broader imperialist competition, exposed tensions among the European powers.

2. Victor Adam, Guerre d'Orient (War in the East) - Bibliothèque Nationale de France, RESERVE QB-370 (139)-FT4

3. Paris Peace Conference, 1856 – BOA FTG.F.269

The Crimean War ended in 1856 with the defeat of Russia. The following Treaty of Paris (1856) ushered in a new chapter in diplomacy with the hope to reshape the dynamics of European politics. It played a key role in legitimizing the postwar claims of the participating states. Austria lost its Balkan garrison. Russia's control over the Black Sea was weakened due to neutralization and free navigation. On the victorious side, Britain reinforced its position in European politics despite heavy war losses. France maintained its political influence until it was defeated in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. By 1871, Italy emerged as a unified nation state after the Risorgimento period.

William Shepherd, Historical Atlas, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911

William Harvey, Geographical Fun, London: Hodder and Soughton, 1868.

Major events of the Crimean War:

Encyclopedia Britannica

Visualizations of criminal networks and their movements during the Crimean War

Beyoglu Map

Historical Map Opacity: 80%

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Where Did They Live/Work? (The green circles on the map)

1: Giuseppe Civicoff

Hotel de France next to the French College, close to Petits de Champs

(Rue (street-cadde) 66: Çukurcuma)

2: Giuseppe Lopetz

lives with his family, near the Court of Galata

(Rue 198: Mahkeme- Galata)

3: Roberto Diamanti

works at a shop

(Rue 23: Yeniçarşı – Pera)

4: Margarita – Francisco Petris

they live here

(Rue 200: Kalyoncu Kulluk)

5: Gaetano Manzo

works at Café Prado across the Selimiye Barracks

(Rue 4: Taksim)

6: Cesare Venzi – Andonaki Draganikos

they live close to Tekke

(Rue 1: Grand Rue de Pera)

7: Cesare Venzi – Andonaki Draganikos

they work at a shop

(Rue 206: Tepebaşı)

8: Giovanni Romano

works at Button Maker Factory owned by Catherin Perin

(Rue 140: Yenişehir - Pera)

Where Did They Meet? (The purple circles on the map)

1: Gaetano Manzo – Clitzi Cole

Café Charalanpas

(Rue 200: Kalyoncu Kulluk)

2: Ludovico Boschi – Gaetano Manzo – Tommasso Facchini

Bülbül Café

(Rue 157: Bülbül)

3: Ludovico Boschi – Gaetano Manzo – Cesare Venzi – Andonaki Draganikos

Café Tekke

(Rue 1: Grand Rue de Pera)

4: Ludovico Boschi – Gaetano Manzo – Cesare Venzi – Andonaki Draganikos

Liquor Factory nearby Taksim Fountain

(Rue 4: Taksim)

5: Clitzi Cole – Gaetano Manzo – Francisco Petris

English Casino across the Sardinian hospital

6: Ludovico Bosschi – Andonaki Draganikos

Theatre Café close to Naum Theatre and opposite to Hungarian Casino

(Rue 18: Theatre)

Map: "Plan des Faubourgs de Constantinople : Galata, Péra et Pancaldi unis au sixième district communal ainsi que leurs confins" by C. Stolpe, published by Schimpff u. Comp. und Gebr. Köhler (Constantinople), 1858-1861

Forgers network Map

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Mobility Map

Interactive map showing the mobility of each forger separately

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Criminal Journey

Comprehensive information about the criminals involved in the forgery network

Drawings based on physical descriptions (portrait parlé)

Communication network of state officers