CLEVER crooks get more money than dim-witted criminals, research has found.

Even low ranking mobsters can earn more with an extra year of education, according to Dr Nadia Campaniello from Essex University.

Her work suggests crime can pay, when mixed with the right level of education, due partly to the increased ability to process numbers and think logically.

Her findings, following a project by the Colchester-based university and California University, looked into crimes such as racketeering and extortion.

It focused on data from 400 members of the Italian-American mafia.

Professor Giovanni Mastrobuoni, who co-authored the research paper with Dr Nadia Campaniello, said: “The Italian-American Mafia is one of the longest running criminal operations in the world and conducts itself like a business corporation, with the boss as chief executive.

"Within that, more than one third of mobsters are business criminals, engaging in the more sophisticated crimes.

"For them, we find that education really does pay.

“Even the mobster at the lower end of the hierarchy who sees, on average, his return at 5.6 per cent, is experiencing a higher return on his extra year of education than another Italian immigrant or an immigrant from another country."

The study, due to be presented at the Royal Economic Society's annual conference in Brighton, concludes: "The Mafia business is usually a mix of legal and illegal activities.

“For illegal activities skills acquired in education, like the ability to process numbers or think logically might indeed increase with education and be necessary for success in these Mafia roles.

"Education is quite valuable, at least for career criminals operating at a high level in complex organisations who perpetrate serious crimes."