Friends of Ours

Anti-Mafia Activist Rosario Crocetta Elected As Sicily's First Gay Governor

Rosario Crocetta has survived three assassination plots for taking on Cosa Nostra, and now the good people of Sicily have elected the centre-left Democrat Party candidate as the region's next governor as reported by Tom Kington for The Guardian.

Crocetta launched his crusade against the Sicilian Mafia in 2003 upon his election as Mayor of the port city of Gela where he persuaded local businesses not to pay protection money or pizzo to the local mobsters, and in 2009 when elected as a member of the European Parliament called for the creation of an EU Anti-Mafia Committee.

The mob buster also happens to be gay, and one mob boss who hired a hit man to whack Crocetta in a failed plot was caught on a wiretap calling the gay politician "this queer communist."

The homophobic slurs from the wise guys hardly ruffle Crocetta's feathers. He contends "that a surprising number of members of Cosa Nostra are themselves gay," and quips "the idea that the mafia is all church, home and shotguns makes me laugh."  Indeed, Palermo anti-Mafia magistrate Antonio Ingroia "has said he believes there are a number of gay bosses" but "it remains a taboo since they are scared of being ejected from the mob."

Crocetta said his election victory means "the Mafia can pack its bags" as reported by Michael Day for The Independent.  Previous governor Raffaele Lombardo "quit in July following an indictment for Mafia association."

Belforte Clan Is Busted In Naples, Italy

Italian authorities have delivered a one-two punch to the Belforte clan from the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia as reported by AGI.

The Carabinieri anti-Mafia police arrested 44 suspected clan associates and members, and Guardia di Finanza agents seized assets worth 10 million euros allegedly belonging to the clan.

The investigations were prompted after investigators in 2007 seized accounting records which allegedly showed monthly payments to imprisoned clan members and extortion payments from area businesses as reported by ANSA.   Police said "the investigation had uncovered a 'leading role' played by the wives of Belforte clan chiefs jailed under special anti-mafia conditions."

Tourists Boycott Cosa Nostra In Sicily

Tourists to Sicily can stick it to Cosa Nostra by only spending their dollars with establishments that do not pay off the local goons in a growing movement known as addio pizzo or "goodbye protection money" as reported by Caroline Chaumont for the Global Post: 

In Italy, groups like Sicily's Cosa Nostra are destructive as well as economically vexing. Mob operatives routinely extort protection money from businesses, intimidating and inflicting violence on those that don't cooperate. These days, tourists and specialized travel agencies in Southern Italy are fighting back, by supporting business that defy the mafia. * * * "There is a strong demand for [anti-mafia tourism]," said Francesca Vannini Parenti, the founder of Addiopizzo Travel, a Palermo-based agency that offers mafia-free holidays. "People want to know which shops, restaurants and hotels don't pay protection money to the mafia."

It's an economic version of the popular carnival game whack-a-mobster.

Suspected Sicilian Extortion Racket Busted

Police in Palermo, Sicily have arrested 37 suspected mobsters from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia for allegedly threatening local merchants with bodily injury or torched businesses if they refused to make protection payments known as "pizzo" as reported by AGI News.

Prosecutor Francesco Messineo said the pizzo racket is the bread-and-butter for Cosa Nostra, and authorities "are only managing to detect the tip of the iceberg" as reported by Adnkronos.

Camorra Extortion Ring Busted

In Naples, Italy police have busted 10 suspected associates from the Fezza-D'Auria clan of the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia for their alleged roles in extorting protection money or "pizzo" from local businesses as reported by Adnkronos.

Prosecutor: Pizzo Payers Complicit With Mafia

Francesco Messineo, the chief prosecutor in Sicily's mob-infested capital city of Palermo, has ripped into local businesses which pay off Cosa Nostra with protection money known as pizzo as reported by Agenzia Giornalistica Italia:  "Today the State does everything necessary to protect extorted businessmen and to compensate them, even financially. Those who continue to pay are complicit with the Mafia."