I know in the 80s the IRA sent guys to NY and America to buy bulk weapons, I wondered if they approached any mob guys but it doesn't look like it. I am not surprised at all about alleged IRA links with Italy, some of these real IRA members are basically just gangsters.
They act like gangsters, but they have a legit reason, to get England out of their country. Still I see the IRA as a mafia type organization, but their core is still the same beliefs of a free Ireland.