DIA was established with the law decree n. 345 of 29 October 1991,[1] following the intensification of the fight against the Sicilian Mafia in Italy, just before the killing of magistrate Giovanni Falcone, the main inspiration and promoter, and was created with the urgent decree during the Andreotti VII government and Italian Minister of Justice Claudio Martelli as a police multy-force body (Carabinieri, Polizia di Stato and Guardia di Finanza).
[3] Since 2013, as a police force with general competence, the Polizia Penitenziaria has been part of the DIA organics according to the legislative decree n. 218 of 15 November 2012.
[5] It is an inter-force composition; members are selected from those of the Italian police forces and from the civil personnel of the internal administration (belonging to the public security).
[8] DIA has a peripheral structure formed by 12 operative centers (Turin, Milan, Genoa, Padua, Florence, Rome, Naples, Bari, Reggio Calabria, Palermo, Catania, Caltanissetta[9]) and 9 operative sections (Trieste, Salerno, Lecce, Catanzaro, Messina, Trapani, Agrigento, Bologna, Brescia[9]).
The director of DIA can propose to courts, competent for territory, the imposition of preventive measures both personal (like special surveillance) and patrimonial (seizure of assets) kind.