Recently this year the public has been informed about a current crime, which has been going on for decades. Since the early 1900's, an elite criminal organization known as the Mafia, have terrorized the country of Italy and are now working to corrupt the food industry. This dictator-like mob is threatening Italian food manufacturers, such as market and farm owners, to produce cheap knockoffs of top quality, iconic goods. Italians call this group the "Agromafia". These Agromafia members illegally manufacture forgeries of classic, top notch Italian products, such as wine, cheese, and extra-virgin olive oil. Over the last two years, at least 59,000 tons of these faked foods have been captured (www.occrp.org/en/daily/4740-made-in-italy-investigators-spotlight-agromafia-in-major-counterfeit-food-seizures). …show more content…
Many of the business owners involved in the Italian food trade are also troubled by the Agromafia. The group of gangsters currently owns a monopoly of 15% of Italy's farms as well as 5,000 Italian restaurants (Roberts and Whitaker). They also have forced their way into nearly all of the food related businesses in the country. Many farmers have been pressured to allow the Mafia to work on the farm as well as paying the mob for transporting their commodity to the consumer. Stores have also been pressed to sell the Argomafia's fraudulent goods. In addition, the Mafia has also enforced "pizzo", or protection money, on many of the restaurants and markets in Italy (Whitaker). The gangsters may charge a pizzo of $5 per week to $500 a month depending on the size of the building (Whitaker). If the money isn't payed, the Mafia may damage the shop, or even worse, come straight to your own home. That is exactly what happened olive oil producer Nicola Clemenza, who got a taste of the damage that the Mafia can …show more content…
When an olive oil is questioned as being authentic, it is placed in blue cups to conceal the oil's color and then is received by the judges (Whitaker). The tasting panels skill is so astounding that it is accepted as sound evidence in a court trial (Whitaker). Average citizens are also joining the fight to stop the Mafia, dead in their tracks. Olive grower Nicola Clemenza has organized a revolt of 200 farmers to stop paying the Mafia, and instead, sell their goods directly to the distributors (Whitaker). However, his good deed did not go unpunished. One day the Agromafia set fire to Clemenza's car as well as his home while he, his wife, and daughter were inside the house (http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-basics/mafia-olive-oil-on-60-minutes/50203). He explained, however, that they weren't trying to kill him, they were just warning him to stay quiet or else they might come back (Whitaker). But this did not discourage Clemenza into giving up. He still continues to lead the farmers' group against the Mafia. "I'm not scared anymore," he explains. "because fear has turned into anger, it's turned into courage, it's turned into action, and now all my free time is dedicated to fight the Mafia.... To fight the Mafia with truth