Facilitating the Italian Mafia: The Grey Zone of Complicity and Collusion

Despite structural and operational differences, Italian mafiasshare an ability to expand and infiltrate global economies whilstremaining rooted within their local territory. They are not onlythe product of specific socio-economic and political conditionsbut also of the extensive complicity on which they can count. It isthis fertile‘grey zone’of mafia relations with accomplices identi-fied as enablers, facilitators, sponsors and helpers that is ana-lysed here. Engaging with the existing literature and usinga range of new judicial sources, including evidence from mafiatrials, this article develops in-depth case studies to identify andexamine the hidden face of Italian mafia