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This exciting Handbook seeks to present an overview of the relationship between organised crime and politics. This is not an easy task, as it is often impossible to pinpoint and untangle the different aspects, exchanges, dimensions, benefits and dangers of this relationship because they are never the same; they change according to geographical, social, political and economic contexts and according to the historic development of crime and institutional-political structures. They can literally be invisible. Italy is always taken as the prime case of ‘organised crime‒politics relations’, which often overlap with other corrupt practices. As someone who has spent most of his career investigating Italian mafias, I believe that it is important to understand the dynamics that exist behind these relationships; but also to be clear that this is not only an Italian phenomenon. While the Italian case may now be the most written about and documented, it is no longer the only case scenario, as this volume reveals and highlights. Almost 35 years ago, an innovative piece of legislation, article 416-bis of the Italian penal code, came into force.1 This article described a mafia-style association ‘in its dynamic profile’, establishing among its objectives that of ‘impeding or obstructing the freedom to exercise voting rights or buying votes for oneself or another during elections’ as well as that of ‘acquiring the management or control of economic activities, concessions, contracts and public services’. By identifying these two objectives, the Italian legislator achieved an exact understanding of the characteristics of a phenomenon that was not only criminal but also social, displaying very close relationships with businessmen and politicians. In this respect, there has often been talk of a ‘trilateral relationship’ between Italian mafias, politics and business. Furthermore, this conceptualisation – aside from the current diversity in the characteristics of organised crime ‒ appears to fully correspond to reality, even today. Indeed, on the one hand, the sheer power of organised crime renders it an inevitable interlocutor for the other two actors in this ‘triangle’. Without its consensus, no economic activity can be conducted within its territory, regardless of the potential support that businessmen may claim from political and public administrations, authorities or institutions. On the other hand, however, it is undeniable that associating with mafias represents a precise benefit for them. This support allows businessmen to eliminate any legitimate competition and provides politicians with significant advantages in terms of electoral consensus, due to the mafia’s capacity to gather votes. Mafias, to all intents and purposes, appeared for many years as the only power capable of establishing itself and of communicating with the population in many regions in the South of Italy. Thus, within this trilateral relationship:

Foreword: organised crime and its relationship with politics as seen from Italy