University of Winnipeg, I have a general arts BA with a major in history and a minor in sociology/anthropology.

My best guess (emphasis on guess) is that infiltration has been tried infrequently and probably ruled too risky. Italy's mafia related corruption is much more systemic than America's. Shit, italy has prime ministers under investigation for rubbing elbows with the mafia.

I'm not sure that infiltration is really the primary use for undercover police work though, more often it's used specifically to catch people in the act of committing a crime without entrapping them.

If you want to look into it deeper, I'd suggest reading up on Guardia di Finanza, which I BELIEVE is the police agency that typically deals with the Mafia. You might find the answer to what you're looking for there.

You could also try reading up the Carabinieri because I *think* they were responsible for a lot of the mafia dealings back before the Giovanni Falcone hit. They might have attempted some infiltration work, but again, I can't say with any certainty.

I did a quick google search for "itaian police undercover" but didn't come up with anything definitive. to me, that says that there probably haven't been many meaningful infiltrations, such as with the Pistone operation.

As a university alumn I still have access to all kinds of scholarly journals, I'll do some further research when I get home from the office. Hopefully I can find something more, because now I'm curious.