This morning saw the opening of the appeal, held under the abbreviated procedure, in the trial of nine defendants charged, in various capacities, with mafia-type association as members of the Brancaccio-Ciaculli mafia district (mandamento) of Palermo, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons and aiding and abetting.
Addiopizzo has joined the proceedings as a civil party alongside two business owners who chose to stand up to the extortion racket, at the end of a journey of listening, trust and support built together with the association.
Their decision developed over time, through a shared path that allowed them to face their fears, overcome difficulties and find the strength to tell investigators from the Squadra Mobile (Flying Squad) and magistrates from the Palermo Public Prosecutor’s Office about the abuse and repeated demands they had endured for years.
This is precisely the meaning of Addiopizzo’s work: standing by those who suffer extortion, listening to people, understanding their needs and accompanying them along a path that puts them in a position to free themselves from mafia blackmail. Because reporting means facing not only the fear of retaliation, but also isolation, economic uncertainty and the fear of having to bear the consequences of one’s choice alone.
The testimony of the two business owners takes on even greater significance in a difficult area, where thirty-one shopkeepers were in the past committed for trial for aiding and abetting, after denying to investigators that they had paid the pizzo, thereby helping to obstruct the investigation.
Yet in these neighbourhoods too, there are those who choose a different path: one of dignity, freedom and courage. These stories show that it is possible to break the silence when people are not left alone and can count on a support network able to accompany them in concrete ways.
But the victims’ journey cannot end with reporting, nor can it be left solely to their determination, to the support of associations and to the work of the police and the judiciary.
For the fight against the mafia and extortion to take a real step forward, strong and continuous commitment from politics is needed. It is necessary to invest in the outskirts, create job opportunities, guarantee access to education and healthcare and build concrete alternatives to organised crime, which in many contexts continues to act as a social safety net.
Press review
- Live Sicilia – Il blitz di Palermo, Addiopizzo pungola la politica (The Palermo raid: Addiopizzo prods politicians)
- Giornale di Sicilia – Addiopizzo: bene i fermi, ma la politica investa contro la povertà e il degrado (Addiopizzo: the arrests are good news, but politics must invest against poverty and neglect)
- La Sicilia – Estorsioni a Brancaccio e Sperone, scattano 32 arresti: il blitz sorprende Cosa Nostra (Extortion in Brancaccio and Sperone, 32 arrests: the raid takes Cosa Nostra by surprise)
- La Repubblica Palermo – Due quartieri nella morsa del pizzo. E solo un imprenditore ha denunciato (Two neighbourhoods in the grip of the pizzo. And only one business owner reported it)
- Palermo Today – Blitz antimafia tra Brancaccio e Sperone: “Il coraggio di chi ha denunciato con il sostegno di Addiopizzo” (Anti-mafia raid in Brancaccio and Sperone: “The courage of those who reported with Addiopizzo’s support”)
