The new rules, according to Luca Palamara, who heads Italy's magistrates' association, will put investigators “on their knees” and mark a “surrender to organized crime” by the state.
His association has pointed out that wiretaps have played a key role in investigations that have led to the arrest, in recent years, of many high-level members of the mob in Sicily and southern Italy. Even if mafia-related crimes are exempt from the rules, they point out that it is often crimes such as tax evasion or corruption that often lead to major breakthroughs against organized crime.
It has often happened that phone calls by people not related to any investigation have been wiretapped, and their names have ended up on the front pages. The opposition and the media counter that because of the slow pace of the Italian judicial system, it can and does take years before an investigation comes to trial.
globalpost.com
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