Since he began taking children away from parents convicted of mob association in 2012, Mr. Di Bella has separated about 40 boys and girls, ages 12 to 16, from their families, in an approach that has proved as controversial as it has been effective.

About a quarter of the time, mothers looking to flee the mafia’s tentacles go with them. The rest of the children are put into foster care, but Mr. Di Bella said that none of the children he had separated from their families had since committed a crime.

The Justice Ministry in Italy has just codified statutes so that Mr. Di Bella’s innovation, so far limited to his corner of Calabria, can be applied to fight mafias nationwide.

Some are appalled by the strategy in a country where family bonds are so cherished. Critics have called it a “Nazi-like method” that overlooks the environmental factors that have made Calabria one of Italy’s poorest and most violent regions.

“If Calabria stays Italy’s most underdeveloped region, it’ll keep having the most potent mafia,” said Isaia Sales, an expert and author of books on criminal organizations. “Regardless of the families.”