'For Justice, we must go to don Corleone.'

The dilemma of a restauranteur in Palermo

Here is a minor but typical, and I think revealing, story from Palermo.

“Aggravated extortion and stalking of a businessman. Four Palermo residents arrested by the Carabinieri of the Palermo Oreto Station… . The investigation, carried out between May and October, was triggered following the victim's complaint to the Carabinieri, who intervened following an assault.

“Exasperated by the situation, the businessman found the strength to report the facts, detailing months of continuous extortion by four men who allegedly demanded consumer goods, and threatening serious retaliation in the event of a complaint. They ate and took away food and drinks without paying from the restaurant located near the central station, going so far, on one occasion, as to attack the restaurateur after being asked by him to vacate a table in the restaurant to make room for other customers.

“The images recorded by the video surveillance systems in the area, with witness statements and enquiries, enabled the Carabinieri to collect evidence against a 56-year-old, a 41-year-old, a 38-year-old and a 21-year-old, all belonging to the same family unit. The 38-year-old was placed under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, while the other three suspects were respectively placed under house arrest and two were subject to a restraining order with an electronic bracelet.”

The key detail is that the four men accused, and I assume they are men, are from the same family unit. This could mean that they are from a ‘family’ in the Mafia sense, even though most Mafia ‘families’ are clan based rather than centred on the nuclear family. But I somehow doubt these people are Mafiosi, and for the following reasons.

First of all, the Mafia do not refuse to pay in restaurants, simply because no one ever presents them with the bill. The boss, who may well own the restaurant in question, eats for free, no questions asked, and so do his ‘family’. It is just something the restauranteur has to put up with. And the restauranteur has already paid il pizzo, the protection money, so he has acquiesced with this arrangement. Indeed, he may welcome it, as it means that other extortionists would not dare muscle in.

Secondly, the Mafia do not make threats. They do not need to. They have the reputation of being men of honour, the sort of people you go out of your way not to antagonise, ever. The residual fear you have for them makes threats redundant. People who make threats, by contrast, are trying to instil fear, something a true Mafioso never needs to do, as his reputation goes before him.

So one concludes that these four were amateurs who were getting above themselves. And perhaps the proof of this is that they were reported to the police, being the sort of people one can report to the police without fear of retribution. Moreover, they were the sort of people the police were happy to deal with. If they had been true Mafiosi, the police might have counselled the restauranteur to sort things out himself and keep it amicable. After all, some of the police do not want to antagonise the bosses any more than most small businessmen: either they are receiving retainers, or favours of another sort, or the Mafia has compromising material on them; or they may prefer not to upset the applecart. Finally, the police may feel that there is no realistic chance of a conviction, given the slowness and labyrinthine nature of Italian justice, and the way Mafiosi retain able legal counsel.

Finally, do the Mafia pay when they go to restaurants? They do not. Payment is for the less important people. Eating for free is the privilege of the pezzi grossi, the big shots. If an inexperienced waiter presented a boss with a bill, he would soon learn of his error and get the sack. Not that an inexperienced waiter ever would. When the boss enters, the owner comes out to serve him and see to his needs. And when the boss leaves, he may tip the staff generously, for which they are very grateful, but he does not pay.

One final thing: the restauranteur who reported the extortionists may be seen as a brave man. I am sure he is. He went to the police, not to the local boss, though, which is very telling. He trusts the agents of the state to act, which is brave, perhaps even naïve. Others would have gone to the boss. One remembers the opening scene of The Godfather. For justice, one needs to go to Don Corleone.