Goodbye Tony Soprano

Somethings ya just think are constants in life.  Then this appears in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and it makes you doubt if anything is sacred.  Makes one wonder what’s next…  a populist uprising against taxes… people demanding something be done with healthcare…  Oh wait, those are happening too.   Wow, if the people in this story can stand up to La Cosa Nostra, it makes you wonder what else can be accomplished if your organized and fed up enough.

PALERMO, Sicily – When it came down to business, Cosa Nostra could always count on fear.

No more. In a rebellion shaking the Sicilian Mafia to its centuries-old roots, businesses are joining forces in refusing to submit to demands for protection money called “pizzo.”

And they’re getting away with it, threatening to sap an already-weakened crime syndicate of one of its steadiest sources of revenue.

The Mafia has a history of bouncing back, but this time it is up against something new: a Web site where businessmen are finding safety in numbers to say no to the mob.

“This rebellion goes to the heart of the Mafia,” said Palermo prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia, who has investigated extortion cases for years. “If it works, we will have a great advantage in the fight against the Mafia.”

The businesses are openly defying the Mafia by signing on to a Web site called “Addiopizzo” (Goodbye Pizzo), which brings together businesses in the Sicilian capital that are resisting extortion.

There’s more to the story if you click the link above.