ABSTRACT
Several characteristics make money laundering particularly important and influential. First of all, the effects of money laundering have an impact on organized crime itself, encouraging the development of more and more sophisticated criminal groups and greater professionalism. Furthermore, top-level positions in the Mafia hierarchy are achieved more rapidly by people with personal skills in the economic and financial sectors. Thus, more and more often, we find managers rather than killers at the top of criminal syndicates.
