Web, crackdowns weakening Mafia's grip (AP)

Vincenzo Conticello, owner of Antica Focacceria San Francesco sandwich restaurant poses in front of his property as a security guard watches over him, at right, and Carabinieri paramilitary police, seen at left, guard the restaurant, in downtown Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy, in this Oct. 5, 2007 photo.  In a rebellion shaking the Sicilian Mafia to its centuries-old roots, businesses in growing numbers are refusing to submit to demands for protection money called 'pizzo' ? threatening to sap an already weakened crime syndicate of one of its steadiest sources of revenue. (AP Photo/Alessandro Fucarini)AP - 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.”

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