Cracks have started to appear in the wall of silence that normally protects Cosa Nostra's protection rackets in Palermo, a top anti-mafia campaigner said here on Monday.
Tano Grasso, head of Italy's Anti-Racket Federation, said that in recent days the owners of several Palermo businesses forced to pay money to the Mafia had begun telling the police about their plight.
But he stressed that despite their courageous action the wall of silence, or 'omerta'', which enables mafiosi to continue siphoning off money from local businesses, was far from collapsing
''These are small steps that make a breach in the wall of omerta' which is still very strong,'' he said.
He was speaking as the new Palermo branch of the organisation set up shop in a building confiscated from the top financial advisor of arrested Cosa Nostra king Bernardo Provenzano.
Meanwhile, the Sicilian branch of industrial employers' federation Confindustria said it had begun contacting businessmen mentioned in a log-book seized by police when they arrested Salvatore Lo Piccolo, a top Palermo boss, last November.
In a bid to dent the Mafia's control over commerce and business, Confindustria in Sicily has said it will eject members caught paying the 'pizzo'.
Regional Confindustria President Ivan Lo Bello said that if any of the people named in Lo Piccolo's log-book turned out to have Mafia connections, the businesses involved would have to choose between going to the police or being ejected from the business association.
Despite the apparent progress, Grasso said there was still a long way to go in breaking the ties between business and the Mob.
''It's hard to persuade the big businesses because, apart from the fear element, what comes into play is an interest in doing business with the Mafia,'' he said.
The head of parliament's anti-Mafia commission, Francesco Forgione, insisted that shopkeepers and owners of small companies had everything to gain from reporting the Mafia to police.
''Cosa Nostra is struggling and this is the time to deliver a powerful blow,'' he said.
A new anti-racket campaign is scheduled to be presented at Palermo's main police station on Tuesday along with a solemn pledge by local business associations to push members to report racketeers.
Mafia extortion rackets are rife in southern Italy and particularly Sicily where in some cities like the capital, at least six out of ten shopkeepers are believed to pay the mob tax.
Since the start of the year, only 15 Palermo businessmen have come forward to report pizzo-extorting mafiosi.
According to a report last year by national retailers' association Confesercenti, the Mafia extorts 200 million euros a day from Italian businesses through the pizzo, loan sharking and other crimes.
The report said organised crime groups raked in 80 million euros every day from shopkeepers alone.
