Italy's Gift To The Mafia

The "Italian government is poised to pass an amnesty for tax dodgers who repatriate savings stashed abroad to boost growth and revenue, a move the opposition says will encourage tax evasion and mafia money laundering" as reported by Steve Scherer for Bloomberg:

An amendment removing the obligation to report bank clients suspected of money laundering, extinguishing possible charges of false bookkeeping, and extending the amnesty to shareholders in foreign companies was approved in a confidence vote yesterday. The so-called tax shield faces its final vote today. "We must be realistic," Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday. "This money will help sustain economic growth." 

UPDATE:  Antonio Di Pietro, the former anti-Mafia judge turned politician who has criticized the tax amnesty, has received a death threat as reported by Lucy Bannerman for The Times:

The bullets came in a nondescript package: 123 of them and a letter. "We are from neither the Left, nor the Right, nor the Centre," said the jagged handwriting. “Remember bullets don’t have parliamentary immunity. That is not a threat — it's a promise.” * * * It was Mr Di Pietro's outspoken attacks on parliament and his fierce opposition to the tax plan in particular that he believes prompted the latest threats. "Every day it's war," he said, with the relish of a man who rather enjoys the combat.