Introduction

Officials excavating toxic waste allegedly buried by the mafia in Southern Italy. Nadia Shira Cohen for The New York Times

The strength of organized crime groups has grown in Europe in the face of economic uncertainty. The mob has used the crisis to accelerate their infiltration of legitimate businesses outside their southern Italian strongholds into Rome and Milan, as well as in France, Germany, Spain and beyond.

Is the mafia Europe’s new security threat? What needs to be done to curtail its influence across the Continent?

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