Anti-Mafia campaigners in Sicily were celebrating another victory on Tuesday when a mobster who demanded protection money from a Palermo businessman was arrested following a tip-off from his victim.
Fifty-year-old Girolamo Cangialosi had told the businessman that his company would be closed down if he failed to pay the 'pizzo', or Mafia fee for 'protecting' a business, via faked invoices.
Cangialosi, himself a businessman in the transport sector, was also implicated in documents seized from the hideout where Cosa Nostra boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo was arrested in November, police said.
Anti-racket association Free Future hailed the victim's decision to tell the police about the mobster's demands as ''a brave decision'' and ''a decisive step''.
''We're happy about the signs of change that are coming from businessmen who are increasingly liberating themselves from Mafia blackmail,'' it said.
Recently more and more businesses have been rebelling against Mob protection rackets, which are rife in southern Italy and particulary Sicily.
Figures from the Palermo public prosecutor's office suggest that up to 80% of the city's businesses pay off organized crime.
But would-be racketeers are meeting with growing resistance thanks to various initiatives to break down the wall of silence, or omerta', that protects Mafia business dealings.
Last year the head of the Sicilian branch of industrial employers federation, Confindustria, decided to expel members caught paying protection money.
National traders association Confcommercio recently announced it would follow in Confindustria's footsteps, expelling those that pay protection money and providing legal assistance to members ready to fight racketeering.
In a high-profile police operation last month more than 20 Cosa Nostra pizzo collectors were arrested. This was believed to be the first time such a large group of racket enforcers have been detained on the word of their victims.
According to a 2006 report by national retailers association Confesercenti, organized crime extorts 200 million euros a day from Italian businesses through the pizzo, loan sharking and other crimes.
The report said organized crime groups raked in 80 million euros every day from shopkeepers alone.
