The pizzo () is

protection money A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

paid to the Mafia often in the form of a forced transfer of money resulting from

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

. The term is derived from the Sicilian ''pizzu'' ('beak'). To "let someone wet their beak" (

Sicilian language Sicilian (, ; ) is a Romance languages, Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It belongs to the broader Extreme Southern Italian language group (in Italian ). ''Ethnologue'' (see #Ethnologue report ...

''fari vagnari u pizzu'') is to pay protection money. The practice used to be widespread in

Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

, not only by the Sicilian

Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of local protect ...

but also by the

'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a mafia-type organized crime, criminal syndicate originating from the Calabria region of Italy. Gratteri & Nicaso, ''Fratelli di Sangue'', pp. 65–68 This body, also referred to as the Commission in reference to the ...

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

and the

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

. Another

etymological Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

explanation of the term is "beakerful", referring to the right of an overseer to scoop from the grain being threshed by peasants.Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', p. 241 Paying the pizzo may involve adding someone (often a member of a criminal organisation) to the payroll, provisioning of services by Mafia-controlled businesses or subcontracting to Mafia-controlled companies.Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', p. 164 Businesses that refuse to pay the pizzo may be burned down. In return for paying the pizzo, 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". According to investigators, in 2008 the Mafia extorted more than 160 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

a year from shops and businesses in the

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

region, and they estimated that Sicily as a whole paid 10 times that figure. Approximately 80% of Sicilian businesses pay a pizzo. According to

University of Palermo The University of Palermo () is a public university, public research university in Palermo, Italy. It was founded in 1806, and is currently organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although it ...

, the pizzo averages €457 (US$) per month for retail traders and €578 for hotels and restaurants, but construction companies are asked to pay over €2,000 per month according to economic daily ''

Il Sole 24 Ore (; English: "The Sun 24 Hours") is the Italian financial newspaper of record, owned by Confindustria, the Italian employers' federation. is the leading financial daily in Italy. History and profile was first published on 9 November 1965 as ...

''.To the Mafia's horror, pizzo-free shop opens Palermo doors
, AFP, 8 March 2008 Among the first to refuse to pay protection money was Libero Grassi, a shopkeeper from Palermo. In January 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 and later that same year Grassi was murdered. In 2004,

Addiopizzo Addiopizzo () is a grassroots movement established in Sicily to build a community of businesses and consumers who refuse to pay "Pizzo (extortion), pizzo"—Sicilian Mafia, Mafia extortion money.grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

consumer movement frustrated with the Mafia's stranglehold on the local economy and political life, peppered Palermo with stickers stating: "An entire populace who pays pizzo is a mob without dignity". The group 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).

References

Bibliography

* Paoli, Letizia (2003).
Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style
', New York: Oxford University Press {{ISBN, 0-19-515724-9

by Klaus Von Lampe)

by Alexandra V. Orlova)

External links

Addiopizzo website
Organized crime terminology History of the Sicilian Mafia Extortion