Impediments to transnational cooperation in undercover policing: A comparative study of the United States and Italy

An informant introduces an Italian undercover agent to Colombian drug dealers eager to import cocaine into Italy. The agent, a pilot, poses as a courier willing to fly shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Italy. In Colombia, as the agent is about to board his drug-filled jet for the trip to Italy, the Colombian dealers announce that they will hold the informant hostage until the cocaine is safely in the hands of their customers in Italy. When the agent returns to Italy, he distributes the cocaine to the Colombians' customers rather than seizing it, as he originally planned. Eventually the informant is released, and cooperating European law enforcement agencies arrest the customers and recover the drugs. The case is proclaimed a success. Media accounts abound with statistics about the amount of drugs seized and the numbers of dealers arrested.(2) Under Italian law, an undercover agent may not distribute drugs as part of an investigation. The Italian agent is prosecuted and convicted for his "crime" (but is eventually acquitted on appeal).(3)