Pizzo (mafia)

The practice used to be widespread in Southern Italy,[citation needed] not only by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra but also by the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria and the Camorra in Campania.

In return for paying the pizzo, businesses receive "protection" and can enlist neighbourhood Mafiosi to cut through bureaucracy or resolve disputes with other tradesmen.

[3] According to investigators, in 2008 the Mafia extorted more than 160 million euro a year from shops and businesses in the Palermo region, and they estimated that Sicily as a whole paid 10 times that figure.

[5] According to University of Palermo, the pizzo averages €457 (US$512) 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.[6] Among the first to refuse to pay protection money was Libero Grassi, a shopkeeper from Palermo.

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).