Pentiti (Italian, literally meaning those who have repented) are former members of the Italian Mafia or similar criminal or terrorist organisations who have abandoned their criminal/terrorist organisation and helped police to discover as much as possible about the respective organisation, criminals, and in general anything related to their former criminal activities and membership. In exchange, pentiti receive lighter punishments for their crimes, and in some cases even freedom. In the Italian judicial system, the pentiti can obtain personal protection, a new name, and some money to start a new life in another place (possibly abroad).
Among the most famous mafia pentiti is Tommaso Buscetta, who was very helpful to judge Giovanni Falcone in describing the Cupola, the leading group within the Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s, and identifying the main operational channels that the mafia uses for its business.
Still in Italy, important successes were achieved with the cooperation of pentiti in the fight against terrorism (specially against the Red Brigades), by Carabinieri general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa (later killed by mafia).
This practice is common in other countries as well, to fight criminal organizations. In the United States, criminals who testify against their former associates can enter the Witness Protection Program, and be given new identities, with supporting paperwork.
It has to be recalled that in Italy some pentiti have invented stories, in order to obtain reductions in their own punishment. A famous case regarded the popular TV anchorman Enzo Tortora, who was accused of cocaine trafficking by a pentito. Tortora was imprisoned for years before being cleared, and (perhaps because of the emotional stress of his imprisonment) developed cancer and died soon after the case was finally solved.
