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, according to a U.N. researcher.
Italian authorities over the years have become experts on tackling organized-crime syndicates. Such groups count on complicit attorneys and other professional enablers to launder their proceeds through misinvoicing schemes and corporate accounts opened for shell companies under their control.
Flows of suspicious funds associated with Chinese textile imports are among multiple emerging threats to the integrity of Italy's financial system, according to the country's financial intelligence unit.