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Organized crime syndicates in Italy are increasingly using legitimate businesses to launder their illicit proceeds, particularly cash-intensive firms and small mom-and-pop stores that generally do not draw scrutiny from law enforcement or regulatory agencies, Elena D'Angelo, a fellow researcher at the U.N. Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, or UNICRI, said. The strategy of hiding behind legal commerce and exercising indirect control is sometimes enabled by complicit lawyers, politicians, notaries and other professional services providers, and helps criminal groups conceal and diversify their assets to prevent confiscation, D'Angelo, who co-authored a UNICRI report on the topic, told ACAMS moneylaundering.com reporter...