DIA was established with the law decree n. 345 of 29 October 1991, following the intensification of the fight against the Sicilian Mafia in Italy, just before the killing of magistrate Giovanni Falcone, the main inspiration and promoter, and was created with the urgent decree during the Andreotti VII government and Italian Minister of JusticeClaudio Martelli as a police multy-force body. The DIA was established just before the Direzione Nazionale Antimafia, with its national anti-mafia prosecutor, and the direzioni distrettuali antimafia, spread on all the Italian territory within the 26 Court of Appeal. The first director of DIA was the general of Carabinieri Giuseppe Tavormina. Since 2013, as a police force with general competence, the Polizia Penitenziaria has been part of the DIA organics according to the legislative decree n. 218 of 15 November 2012.
Description
The DIA is a specialized investigation body with the exclusive task of ensuring the proceeding, in a coordinated form, of the preventive investigation activities regarding the organized crime, and to carry out judiciary police investigations related exclusively to crimes attributable to like-mafia associations. It is an inter-force composition; members are selected from those of the Italian police forces and from the civil personnel of the internal administration.
Structure
DIA has its own collocation within the Department of Public Security. It has full administrative-financial and management autonomy and its organization is defined by the Ministry of Interior with proper decrees, after consulting the Consiglio generale per la lotta alla criminalità organizzata. At the top of the structure there is a director, chosen in rotation between general officers of Guardia di Finanza and Carabinieri as well as senior directors of Polizia di Stato who had matured a specific competence in the field of the fight against organized crime. In the exercise of his functions, the director is joined to two deputy director, and to one of them is given also the vicarious function, who have the task of overseeing respectively the operative and administrative activities. The organization is formed by a central building in Rome, articulated in a cabinet division, 3 departments and 7 offices. DIA has a peripheral structure formed by 12 operative centers and 9 operative sections.
Functions
DIA has the tasks of performing investigations of judiciary police related to crimes of mafia-type association and it ensures the progress of preventive investigation activities regarding organized crime. The director of DIA can propose to courts, competent for territory, the imposition of preventive measures both personal and patrimonial kind. In particular, the DIA, coordinated by Anti-mafia National Prosecutor, and the anti-mafia district directorates use their instruments as well as the Central DNA laboratory of Polizia Penitenziaria for own investigations.
Statistics
From 1992 to 31 December 2018, DIA seized assets for over €17 billions and confiscation for almost €10 billions. Moreover, in the same period, about 10 501 people alleged of mafia association had been arrested.
