Pizzo (extortion)
Encyclopedia
In Southern Italy
, the pizzo is protection money
paid by a business to the Mafia
, usually coerced and constituting extortion
. The term is derived from the Sicilian pizzu ('beak'). To wet someone's beak (Sicilian language
"fari vagnari 'u pizzu") is to pay protection money. The practice is widespread in Southern Italy, not only by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, but also by the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria
and the Camorra
in Campania
.
Another etymological
explanation of the term is "beakerful", referring to the right of an overseer to scoop from the grain being threshed by peasants. Paying the pizzo might also be in kind, for example by forcing a company to put someone (often a member of a criminal organisation) on the payroll, compulsory provision of services by Mafia controlled businesses as well as subcontracting to Mafia controlled companies.
Businesses that refuse to pay the pizzo may suffer harassment
, including arson
. In return, businesses receive "protection" and can enlist neighbourhood Mafiosi to cut through bureaucracy or resolve disputes with other tradesmen. Collecting the pizzo keeps the Mafia in touch with the community and allows it to "control their territory".
, Naples
and the North, increasingly infiltrated by southern Mafia clans. A report in 2007 by Confesercenti, the Italian retailers association, estimated that the Mafia-type organisations – including the 'Ndrangheta and the Camorra as well as the Sicilian Cosa Nostra – have a turnover of €90 billion a year, or 7 per cent of the Italian GDP, making it the country’s “biggest company”.
In the Palermo
region the Mafia extorts more than 160 million euro a year from shops and businesses, with the island as a whole paying 10 times that figure, investigators estimate. Around 80 per cent of Sicilian businesses pay up a pizzo. According to an investigation by the Palermo University, the pizzo averages 457 euros (640 dollars) a month for retail traders and 578 for hotels and restaurants, but construction companies are asked to pay over 2,000 euros per month according to the economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore
.
In December 2007, the Palermo edition of the daily La Repubblica
published a list of companies that paid the pizzo to the Mafia boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo
– arrested in November 2007. Payments ranged from 250 euro for smaller businesses to 30,000 euro for the bigger ones.
, a businessman from Palermo
. On January 10, 1991, he wrote an open letter
to the Giornale di Sicilia
, the local newspaper. Published on the front page, it was addressed to an anonymous "Dear Extortionist". It caused an uproar but, barely nine months later, on August 29, 1991, Grassi was killed by the Mafia.
In 2004, Addiopizzo
– a grassroots
social conscious-motivated consumer movement led by a generation whose adolescence was characterized by the murders of anti-Mafia judges, journalists and businessmen – frustrated with the Mafia's stranglehold on the local economy and political life, peppered Palermo with stickers stating: "A people who pays the pizzo is a people without dignity." They organise demonstrations wearing black T-shirts with the Addiopizzo logo, a broken circle with an X in the middle and the words "consumo critico" (critical consumption).
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the pizzo is protection money
Protection racket
A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...
paid by a business to the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
, usually coerced and constituting extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
. The term is derived from the Sicilian pizzu ('beak'). To wet someone's beak (Sicilian language
Sicilian language
Sicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects make up the Extreme-Southern Italian language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento ; and Campania, on the Italian mainland, where it is...
"fari vagnari 'u pizzu") is to pay protection money. The practice is widespread in Southern Italy, not only by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, but also by the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
and the Camorra
Camorra
The Camorra is a Mafia-type criminal organization, or secret society, originating in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 18th century.-Background:...
in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
.
Another etymological
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
explanation of the term is "beakerful", referring to the right of an overseer to scoop from the grain being threshed by peasants. Paying the pizzo might also be in kind, for example by forcing a company to put someone (often a member of a criminal organisation) on the payroll, compulsory provision of services by Mafia controlled businesses as well as subcontracting to Mafia controlled companies.
Businesses that refuse to pay the pizzo may suffer harassment
Harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing...
, including arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
. In return, businesses receive "protection" and can enlist neighbourhood Mafiosi to cut through bureaucracy or resolve disputes with other tradesmen. Collecting the pizzo keeps the Mafia in touch with the community and allows it to "control their territory".
Italy's "biggest company"
According to Antimafia police estimates organized crime collect about €30 billion a year in pizzo, not just in Sicily but in CalabriaCalabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
, Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and the North, increasingly infiltrated by southern Mafia clans. A report in 2007 by Confesercenti, the Italian retailers association, estimated that the Mafia-type organisations – including the 'Ndrangheta and the Camorra as well as the Sicilian Cosa Nostra – have a turnover of €90 billion a year, or 7 per cent of the Italian GDP, making it the country’s “biggest company”.
In the Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
region the Mafia extorts more than 160 million euro a year from shops and businesses, with the island as a whole paying 10 times that figure, investigators estimate. Around 80 per cent of Sicilian businesses pay up a pizzo. According to an investigation by the Palermo University, the pizzo averages 457 euros (640 dollars) a month for retail traders and 578 for hotels and restaurants, but construction companies are asked to pay over 2,000 euros per month according to the economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore
Il Sole 24 Ore
Il Sole 24 Ore is an Italian national daily business newspaper owned by Confindustria, the Italian employers' federation.It was founded on 1965-11-09 as a merger between Il Sole, founded in 1865, and 24 Ore, founded in 1946. The headquarters are in Milan...
.
In December 2007, the Palermo edition of the daily La Repubblica
La Repubblica
la Repubblica is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. Founded in 1976 in Rome by the journalist Eugenio Scalfari, as of 2008 is the second largest circulation newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera.-Foundation:...
published a list of companies that paid the pizzo to the Mafia boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo
Salvatore Lo Piccolo
Salvatore Lo Piccolo , also known as the Baron , is a Sicilian mafioso and one of the most powerful bosses of Palermo, Sicily. Lo Piccolo rose through the ranks of the Palermo mafia throughout the 1980s and he became the capo-mandamento of the San Lorenzo district in the early 1990s, replacing...
– arrested in November 2007. Payments ranged from 250 euro for smaller businesses to 30,000 euro for the bigger ones.
Anti pizzo movement
One of the first to refuse to pay protection money was Libero GrassiLibero Grassi
Libero Grassi was an Italian clothing manufacturer from Palermo, Sicily, who was killed by the Mafia after taking a solitary stand against their extortion demands, known as "pizzo" in Sicilian....
, a businessman from Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. On January 10, 1991, he wrote an open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
to the Giornale di Sicilia
Giornale di Sicilia
Giornale di Sicilia is an Italian daily national newspaper based in Palermo, Sicily. It is also the best-selling newspaper in Sicily.It was founded in 1860, immediately following the Expedition of the Thousand headed by Giuseppe Garibaldi; it was first published on June 7 under the name "Giornale...
, the local newspaper. Published on the front page, it was addressed to an anonymous "Dear Extortionist". It caused an uproar but, barely nine months later, on August 29, 1991, Grassi was killed by the Mafia.
In 2004, Addiopizzo
Addiopizzo
Addiopizzo is a grassroots movement established to build a community of businesses and consumers who refuse to pay "pizzo" – Mafia extortion money. It is a grassroots social-conscience motivated consumer movement analogous to Fair Trade...
– a grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
social conscious-motivated consumer movement led by a generation whose adolescence was characterized by the murders of anti-Mafia judges, journalists and businessmen – frustrated with the Mafia's stranglehold on the local economy and political life, peppered Palermo with stickers stating: "A people who pays the pizzo is a people without dignity." They organise demonstrations wearing black T-shirts with the Addiopizzo logo, a broken circle with an X in the middle and the words "consumo critico" (critical consumption).
External links
- Addiopizzo website
- Heroes in business suits stand up to fight back against Mafia, The Times, November 3, 2007
- Mafia is blamed for arson attack on businesses fighting back, The Times, November 28, 2007