PAYING YOUR DUES
THE COST OF PROTECTION
(HD - ’60 – 2011)
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: Italian SUBTITLE LANGUAGES: English
DIRECTION: MARCO BATTAGLIA, GIANLUCA DONATI, LAURA SCHIMMENTI, ANDREA ZULINI
PRODUCER: CHIARA SCARDAMAGLIA
ORIGINAL MUSIC: ANTONIO LO IACONO
CONTRIBUTIONS Giuseppe Todaro, businessman; Gianmario Masia, businessman; Maurizio Consiglio, businessman; Avv. Ugo Forello, Comitato Addio Pizzo; Enrico Colajanni, President of the Association “Libero Futuro”; Vittorio Greco, Comitato Addio Pizzo; Pina Maisano Grassi, Libero Grassi widow; Ivan Lo Bello, president at Confindustria Sicilia; Maurizio De Lucia - Magistrate at Direzione Nazionale Antimafia; Gaetano Paci - Magistrate; Antonio De Santis - Police Chief; Salvatore Caradonna, Valerio D’Antoni - Comitato Addio Pizzo.
SYNOPSIS
Mafia enriches itself in many ways, one of this is the request of Pizzo, the Sicilian slang term for protection money.
In Palermo, 80% of the businesses are believed to pay this tax to Cosa Nostra.
The extorters, ask to shopkeepers money for safety and protection and everybody passively agree to pay to avoid their premises are burnt up.
During the last years something has started to change and one of the most important protagonist in this process of change has been a committee of young people called Addio Pizzo, (Goodbye Protection money).
In 5 years their civil campaigns leaded to big results but the most important success has been the break of the wall of silence about the racket issue until yesterday considered a taboo.
