Cooperation across the border: Como, Milan, Reggio Calabria and Catanzaro

The Italian counterparts

The Italian side of the Ticino front line is organized differently from the Swiss side. Italian anti-Mafia investigations are conducted by the district anti-Mafia directorates (Direzioni distrettuali antimafia, DDA), specialized sections of the public prosecutor's offices at the seat of each court of appeal, coordinated nationally by the National Anti- Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate (Direzione nazionale antimafia e antiterrorismo, DNAA) in Rome.¹ For the Swiss border, the most relevant DDA is that of Milan, which covers Lombardy including the provinces of Como and Varese. Cases in Como are therefore investigated by the Milan DDA when they involve Mafia-type association, while the public prosecutor of Como handles ordinary crime, including much of the cross-border economic and tax crime on the border with the Mendrisiotto. The DDA of Reggio Calabria investigates the clans of the Reggio province, among them the families whose members formed the Frauenfeld cell, and the DDA of Catanzaro those of the provinces of Catanzaro, Vibo Valentia and Crotone, among them the Anello-Fruci clan of the Imponimento case. The police investigations are carried out by the Carabinieri, the Polizia di Stato and, for financial matters, the Guardia di Finanza, together with the DIA, an interforce agency that also publishes the semi-annual reports on the Mafia organizations cited in this chapter.²

The organizational difference has practical consequences for Swiss counterparts. A Ticino prosecutor or a Lugano bank's counsel who deals with an Italian anti-Mafia case will usually face a prosecutor in Milan, Reggio Calabria or Catanzaro whose case covers dozens or hundreds of defendants. The evidence in such cases consists largely of wiretaps and statements of cooperating witnesses, and the procedural instruments include preventive seizure and confiscation under the Italian anti-Mafia code (Codice antimafia, Legislative Decree No. 159 of 6 September 2011). The Swiss case, by contrast, typically concerns one or two persons resident in Switzerland, their bank accounts and their companies.³

Mutual assistance and extradition

The legal channels for judicial cooperation are described in Chapter H.IV. They rest on the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 1959, the Swiss– Italian supplementary agreement of 10 September 1998 that Chapter D.IV traced to the experience of the 1980s, and the Federal Act on International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (IMAC). Extradition between the two countries is governed by the European Convention on Extradition of 1957.⁴ The Frauenfeld and Cavalli di razza cases show how these instruments work in Mafia cases. Italy issues arrest warrants and requests the provisional arrest of suspects in Switzerland. Swiss police arrest them, and the Federal Office of Justice decides on extradition, subject to appeal to the Federal Criminal Court. Swiss nationals cannot be extradited without their consent, which is why the naturalized member of the Frauenfeld cell remained in Switzerland and was subject to Swiss proceedings that ended without charges.⁵ Requests for the seizure of assets and the production of bank documents are executed by the OAG or by the cantonal prosecutors, and assets forfeited in Italian proceedings can be handed over under Article 74a IMAC.

Notes

1. Decreto-legge 20 novembre 1991, n. 367, converted by Legge 20 gennaio 1992, n. 8 (establishment of the DNA and the DDA at the prosecutors' offices of the 26 seats of courts of appeal); extension to terrorism by Decreto-legge 18 febbraio 2015, n. 7, converted by Legge 17 aprile 2015, n. 43. Summarized from Wikipedia, "Direzione nazionale antimafia e antiterrorismo", https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direzione_nazionale_antimafia_e_antiterrorismo (consulted as a last resort). ↩
2. The DIA was established by Decreto-legge 29 ottobre 1991, n. 345, converted by Legge 30 dicembre 1991, n. 410. It draws its staff from the Carabinieri, the Polizia di Stato and the Guardia di Finanza and has reported to Parliament every six months since the first half of 1992: Wikipedia, "Direzione investigativa antimafia", https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direzione_investigativa_antimafia (consulted as a last resort). See "La Lombardia vista come 'capitale italiana della 'ndrangheta'", laRegione, 2 October 2022 (above). ↩
3. Decreto legislativo 6 settembre 2011, n. 159, Codice delle leggi antimafia e delle misure di prevenzione, nonché nuove disposizioni in materia di documentazione antimafia, adopted under Arts. 1 and 2 of Legge 13 agosto 2010, n. 136, Brocardi, https://www.brocardi.it/codice-antimafia/. ↩
4. European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959 (SR 0.351.1); Agreement of 10 September 1998 between Switzerland and Italy supplementing that Convention and facilitating its application (SR 0.351.945.41); European Convention on Extradition of 13 December 1957 (SR 0.353.1); all listed in the classified compilation, section 0.35, https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-fr/0.3/0.35/index.html. See Chapters D.IV and H.IV. ↩
5. Blick, "Thurgauer Zelle" (above). On the non-extradition of Swiss nationals without consent see Art. 25 of the Federal Constitution and Art. 7 IMAC. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.