ORGANISED crime has tightened its grip on the Italian economy during the economic crisis, making the Mafia the country’s biggest “bank” and squeezing the life out of thousands of small firms, according to a report.

Gaetano Badalamenti, once known as the “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian Mafia, has died at the age of 80 in the US, where he was serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking.