This document discusses the antimafia movement Addio Pizzo in Sicily and key factors that contributed to its effectiveness. It provides background on the Maxi Trial of 1987 that weakened the Sicilian Mafia and the "pizzo" or protection money businesses were forced to pay. Addio Pizzo was founded by young businessmen to spread awareness of the pizzo and pledge support only to businesses that did not pay. The movement emphasized specificity in targeting the pizzo and building solidarity among members.

1. Specificity in
Antimafia Movements:
Addio Pizzo

2. • International breadth of the Mafia
• Involved in nearly every criminal market in the world
• A movement without focus?
• The key to effectiveness: specificity
Formula for Antimafia
Movements

3. • Maxi Trial of 1987, Giovanni Falcone & Paolo Borsellino
• Rognoni-La Torre Law, article 416 bis
• “The organization is of the mafia type when its components
use intimidation, subjection and, consequentially, silence
(omertà), to commit crimes, directly or indirectly acquire
the management or the control of businesses, concessions,
authorizations, public contracts and public services to obtain
either unjust profits or advantages for themselves or others.”
Success of the Maxi Trial

4. • Sicily-based grassroots organization
• Founded by four young businessmen
• Purpose is to spread awareness of the pizzo, gather
individuals who wish to stand against it, and pledge
financial and social support only to businesses that do not
pay the pizzo
• “As long as somebody continues to pay the pizzo we will
not be free. Because if my baker pays the pizzo, I am giving
money to the Mafia when I buy bread too, and so I submit
myself to the Mafia.”
Addio Pizzo:
Goodbye Pizzo

5. • The term pizzo is derived from the Sicilian pizzu,
meaning “beak”
• “to wet someone’s beak”
• Protection money paid to the mafia by business owners to
prevent harassment, arson, & bodily harm
• It is a way to gather funds as well as exert control over a
territory
What is the Pizzo?

6. • Libero Grassi, a clothing
manufacturing business owner
from Palermo
• Wrote to the local newspaper
• “Dear Extortionist”
• No other businessowners would
support him
• The importance of solidarity
• Eight months later (August 29,
1991), he was killed
• His wife and daughter now lend
their support to Addio Pizzo
Libero Grassi

7. • Salvatore Lo Piccolo, Sicilian
Mafia boss
• Upon arrest, it was revealed
that one of his main duties was
to collect the pizzo
• Not only from small,
independent businesses, but
also from corporate
supermarkets
Understanding the
Severity of the Pizzo

8. • Rooted in Sicilian society
• Why is the Mafia able to hold this power over the people?
• FRONTLINE/world’s Carola Mamberto interviewed
Alexander Stille, author of Excellent Cadavers
• Why is the Mafia like Italy’s “second government?”
• “…(The Mafia) offers physical protection and security,
which is a sort of basic function of government (Stille).”
• Italian government unable to protect its people,
harassment, arson, and bodily harm go unpunished
• Stille believes this gives the Mafia the power of the
“monopoly of violence”
The Power of the Pizzo

9. • Successful first step of spreading awareness
• “…a high degree of public attention is required to dedicate the
necessary resources, and public attention comes and goes (Stille).”
• Gathering group members & creating a strong solidarity
• Making an economic difference with the Consumo Critico
Re-Examining Addio Pizzo

10. Significance of Addio
Pizzo

11. Specificity & Solidarity
If these components are present, even a small
organization can be effective in fighting the mafia.