Sicilian retailers are turning the tables on negative stereotypes about Italy and organized crime, by using the Mafia name to make honest cash. A number of shops have started selling T-shirts that play on the island's notorious links with Cosa Nostra, rather than playing them down.
They say they are particularly popular with foreign tourists.
One of the best sellers is a T-shirt which boldly states 'Mafia - Made in Italy'.
It is available at the Prima Visione chain of outlets in Palermo. "We have been selling them since the start of May and
they've been going really well," said Giovanni Ceraulo, the manager of the main Prima Visione branch in the centre of the city.
"On average we sell 10 a day, even though the price of 32 euros is quite high".
Another shop in the city's Via Bandiera has just started peddling an array of different Mafia souvenirs. These include T-shirts with "Gangster" emblazoned on the chest in big letters and others that take pride in giving PR to the likes of Al Capone.
The Mafia T-shirt business has reached the internet too.
Websites offe Mafia T-shirts in a wide variety of colours and designs. There are even different cuts for men and women. The 2006 spring-summer collection features a top that reads "Cosa Nostra Boss - Since 1919".
Another, which features a man kneeling with gun in hand, reads "Just for Lucre". The CosaNostra Tipico Style Italiano brand argues that its goods do not glorify the organized-crime world. "It is an ironic look at the stereotypes that form the tissue of the Italian way of life," the site says.
"The aim is to show a certain rejection of (public) institutions, of everything that is imposed on us by society, in a fun way.
"At the same time it seeks to present an ironic view of something that is feared so much, like Cosa Nostra". Some Italian politicians are not convinced though. Centre-left MP Franco Piro and Senator Giuseppe Di Lello said they are going to make a formal request to the authorities to stop the T-shirts being sold.
Italians have become accustomed to the rest of the world's fascination with the traditional Sicilian Mob, but they have usually avoided buying into it until recently. The release of a videogame called Mafia, in which players can kill rival bosses and set up protection rackets, caused outrage in 2004 with even the Sicilian government entering the fray.
Maria Falcone, sister of a Mafia investigator killed by the Mob a decade ago, described the idea of a game glorifying the violence of Cosa Nostra as "aberrant". Similar protests were heard in November 2005 when a German-based company released a third CD of so-called 'Mafia music'.
The company's CDs are basically collections of southern Italian folk songs performed by various little known local artists and loosely inspired by the 'ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia. The new album - entitled Le Canzoni dell'Onorata Societa
(Songs of the Honoured Society) - has on its cover a picture of a male figure playing a guitar while a revolver sits on a sideboard.
