The DIA is responsible only for mafia-related offences: this jurisdiction made it possible to develop an extensive knowledge of the mafia-phenomenon and to acquire a pivotal role among those agencies in Italy and abroad, that are responsible for the fight against organized crime.

Because of the increasing globalization of the markets and the steady elimination of national borders, the mafia syndicates expanded transnationally in search of new illicit economic goals, also in order to establish illicit agreements with criminals abroad.

In this framework, the DIA stimulated the investigation activity at an international level, believing that cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of various countries represents an effective tool to counter the mafia expansion.

At a multilateral level it is worth mentioning the G8 Expert Working Group for the fight against Eastern European organized crime (EEOC) between the U.S. FBI, the German BKA, the Russian GUBOP, the Canadian RCMP, the British NCIS and the French CRACO, the Japanese National Police, and the DIA; an "intelligence group" was set up in order to promote coordinated investigations based on a joint and prompt analysis of the information regarding international criminal organizations.