VZCZCXRO5383
RR RUEHFL RUEHNP
DE RUEHNP #0129/01 3401509
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061509Z DEC 07
FM AMCONSUL NAPLES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6160
INFO RHMFIUU/DIR FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0380
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN 0073
RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE 0060
RHMFIUU/COMUSNAVEUR NAPLES IT
RHMFIUU/COMSERVFORSIXTHFLT
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES 0887

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAPLES 000129 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KCRM IT
SUBJECT: SICILIAN MAFIA REELING FROM POLICE AND BUSINESS ACTIONS 
 
Sensitive but unclassified - handle accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  A series of law enforcement successes in 
Sicily, including the arrest of a major mafia boss in November 
and a raid that netted 70 suspects on December 4, has the Cosa 
Nostra reeling.  Business owners have increasingly banded 
together, refusing to pay the protection money that has 
traditionally been a major source of mafia income.  The success 
in combating organized crime in Sicily stands in stark contrast 
to the general lack thereof in other regions of southern Italy. 
End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) A string of law enforcement successes, combined with a 
rebellion by businesses against the payment of protection money, 
has the Cosa Nostra on the defensive.  The latest round of 
government victories started with the November 5 arrest near 
Palermo of powerful Mafia boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo and three of 
his associates.  Police believed that Lo Piccolo had taken over 
the top post in the Cosa Nostra after the April 2006 arrest of 
Bernardo Provenzano, "the boss of all bosses."  The police and 
Carabinieri followed up with a joint raid on December 3 on the 
home in Gela (a heavily mafia-influenced town on the island's 
southern coast) of another local boss, Daniele Emmanuello. 
Emmanuello, wanted for murder and racketeering, was shot to 
death by police as he tried to flee.  The next day, the 
Carabinieri detained 70 people, including alleged mob boss 
Vincenzo Santapaola, in Catania.  Santapaola's father, 
Benedetto, is serving a life sentence and is considered one of 
the Sicilian mafia's most feared leaders. 
 
¶3.  (U) Business owners have been emboldened by the continuing 
string of law enforcement victories, with more and more 
reportedly refusing to pay extortion money (known in Italian 
slang as the "pizzo"), particularly since Provenzano's arrest. 
According to the recent annual report issued by the National 
Traders Association (Conferescenti), up to 80 percent of 
businesses in Palermo and Catania paid protection money in the 
past year, and the cost of extortion is higher in Sicily than 
any other part of the country.  Several anti-racket associations 
have been formed, reportedly with good results.  The most 
prominent is "Addio pizzo" ("Goodbye, pizzo"), formed in 2004, 
which counts 210 traders and entrepreneurs as members and over 
9,000 consumers committed to buy only at shops belonging to the 
"pizzo-free" list.  Palermo police and the prefect have agreed 
to discreetly look after the member shops.  "Addio pizzo" has 
organized programs in more than 90 schools and educational 
institutes, with the participation of prosecutors and police, 
and also conducted a "pizzo-free" festival in one of Palermo's 
main plazas in May 2006.  (One of the association's leaders has 
been selected for a State Department International Visitor 
program in 2008, which will focus on awakening public opinion to 
rule of law and supporting NGOs who fight organized crime.) 
 
¶4.  (U) In September of this year, the Sicilian branch of the 
industrialists' federation (Confindustria) voted unanimously to 
expel any of its members who continue to pay the Mafia's tax. 
The vote came in support of Andrea Vecchio, a well-known 
construction company owner who told the Cosa Nostra he would no 
longer pay.  Since taking this bold decision, he has received 
four death threats and two of his building sites have been 
sabotaged.  Vecchio and his family are now living under police 
protection. 
 
¶5.  (U) On November 11, forty Sicilian business owners launched 
a new "anti-pizzo" association to assist entrepreneurs who 
refuse to pay extortion money.  The group is called "Libero 
Futuro," which translates "Free Future," but also pays homage to 
Libero Grassi, a Sicilian businessman who was murdered in 1991 
for refusing to pay the "pizzo."  In response to the 
organization's founding, Palermo mayor Diego Cammarata promised 
50,000 euros to assist merchants who have been victims of 
extortion.   The association's inauguration was attended by 
national political leaders; in fact, the auditorium was packed, 
whereas when a similar launch was attempted two years ago, only 
around 30 people showed up. 
 
¶6.  (U) During the night of November 26, the offices of 
Confindustria in the central Sicilian city of Caltanissetta were 
broken into, and computer disks containing confidential details 
of business owners backing a campaign against the payment of 
protection money were stolen.  Confindustria leaders immediately 
blamed the Mafia and declared that they would not be intimidated 
by the act. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Comment:  The stunning law enforcement successes and a 
 
NAPLES 00000129  002 OF 002 
 
 
vocal public campaign against extortion have left the Cosa 
Nostra with its back to the wall.  Most of the organization's 
top-level bosses have been captured, but national anti-Mafia 
prosecutor Piero Grasso has stated that he has no intention of 
declaring the war over.  According to Grasso, total victory 
requires a "cultural revolution," in addition to arrests. 
Unfortunately, the success in Sicily stands in stark contrast to 
the rest of southern Italy, where significantly less progress 
has been made in fighting the Camorra in Campania and the 
'Ndrangheta in Calabria (although there has been good success 
combating the Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia).  Our local contacts 
in the anti-mafia prosecutor's office tell us that it is hard to 
apply the Sicilian model to these regions because these other 
groups consist of clans, many of which compete with each other, 
while the Cosa Nostra has more of a pyramid structure. 
Nonetheless, the disparity between the success in combating the 
Sicilian mafia and the lack thereof elsewhere is striking. 
HALLIBURTON