“An offer you can’t refuse?”

Illustration by Lars Wannop

Who hasn’t seen the “Godfather”? Exchanges of shots, bloody bands, cruelty, arrogancy, power imposition, obsession for “respect” and possession.
What about people’s reaction?
Because of conspiracy of silence and submission, Mafia could carry its violent staff on.
That was Coppola’s work (and don’t say you didn’t admired Vito Corleone’s family at least a bit!).
But what’s the reality like?
Without Mafia’s permission nothing can happen in Palermo –Sicily- and nobody can stand up to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra refusing to pay protection money.
Well, finally someone has been brave enough to refuse “an offer that shoppers couldn’t refuse” in Sicily, where those who don’t pay up are quickly paid a visit.
On an island which has long been known has the stronghold of organized crime and the birthplace of the Mafia, the first racket-free supermarket’s opened, thanks to Fabio Messina’s courage.
It’s part of a larger campaign by a group called Addiopizzo - or “Goodbye Pizzo”.
What’s Pizzo? Imagine you’re a store owner; you’re forced to pay an estimated $200 to $600 to avoid having your stores or restaurants vandalized or even firebombed.
For too long ordinary citizens of Palermo and business people have been held to ransom, and now “I felt the time had come to give those businesses that had refused to pay the pizzo an extra economic opportunity”, said Mr Messina. That means that all the products in the “Supermercato Punto Antipizzo” are supplied by firms who have refused to pay pizzo — we are talking about products from fruit and vegetables to wine, olive oil, pasta and bread. The sort of items you find in any normal supermarket.
Centre left senator Francesco Ferrante, who has campaigned against Mafia racketeering, said: “With the opening of this supermarket a new symbol of rebellion and pride has been born from a category that has too often been crushed by Cosa Nostra.
Come on Sicilian people: this is really “an offer you cannot refuse!”

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