For decades, the Sicilian mafia spread fear in Italy through murder, extortion and a powerful network of influence. Faced with this threat, the Italian State promoted pioneering legislation in the early 1990s that offered protection and judicial benefits to repentant gangsters and witnesses willing to break the law of silence. Thirty-five years later, that system continues to be studied by governments and organized crime specialists around the world. How did the Italian model work? What role did the so-called “repentants” play in the fight against Cosa Nostra? And what challenges does a tool that transformed the battle against mafias face today? From Rome, journalist Irene Savio analyzes the legacy of a strategy that forever changed the relationship between the State and organized crime.