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 vi ...

paid to

the Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

often in the form of a forced transfer of money resulting from

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

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

Sicilian language Sicilian ( scn, sicilianu, link=no, ; it, siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. A variant, ''Calabro-Sicilian'', is spoken in southern Calabria, where it is called Southern Calabro ...

''fari vagnari u pizzu'') is to pay protection money. The practice is widespread in Southern Italy, not only by the Sicilian

Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...

, but also by the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria and the Camorra in

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

. Another

etymological Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words a ...

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 also 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." The Mafia extorts more than 160 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

a year from shops and businesses in the Palermo region, and investigators estimate that Sicily as a whole pays 10 times that figure. Approximately 80% of Sicilian businesses pay a pizzo. According to

Palermo University The University of Palermo ( it, Università degli Studi di Palermo) is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although i ...

, 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''.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 Libero Grassi (; 19 July 1924 – 29 August 1991) was an Italian clothing manufacturer from Palermo, Sicily, who was killed by the Mafia after taking a solitary stand against their extortion demands. The businessman wrote an open letter to the lo ...

, a shopkeeper from Palermo. In January 1991, he wrote an open letter to the ''

Giornale di Sicilia ''Giornale di Sicilia'' is an Italian daily national newspaper for the island of Sicily. It is based in Palermo, and is the best-selling newspaper in Sicily. Since 2017, it is owned by the daily newspaper of Messina, Gazzetta del Sud. History and ...

'', 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 ( en, "Goodbye Pizzo") is a grassroots movement established in Sicily to build a community of businesses and consumers who refuse to pay " pizzo"—Mafia extortion money.grassroots 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

* 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