In an incredible turn of events which evoke memories of the production of the movie “The Godfather,” Monica Vitale, a Sicilian Mafia boss’ former girlfriend, has told police that members of the Sicilian Mafia received protection money from the producers of Squadra Antimafia (The Antimafia Team), in order to film in and around Palermo without any disturbances. Ms. Vitale also said that Mafia members “controlled the supply of goods and services for the drama.”
Ms. Vitale told the police, “The Mafia controlled all transport services for the production as well as catering for the cast and crew.”
When “The Godfather” was filmed in New York’s Little Italy in the early 1970’s, there were also rumors that the American Mafia demanded protection money in order for the streets of Manhattan’s Little Italy to be safely used for the filming of the movie. When “Godfather 2” was made two years later, the producers used the streets of New York City’s Alphabet City to avoid paying protection money to the Mafia. The surrounding tenements in Alphabet City closely resemble the streets of Little Italy less than as mile away.
Paolo Piccinelli, a police colonel in Palmermo told the press, “We’ve verified that an employee of the production company was in league with a person close to the Mafia.”
The TV show which stars the actress Simona Cavallari is broadcast on Channel Five, which is owned by Silvio Berlusconi, the disgraced former prime minister, who was recently forced to resign for various sexual and monetary improprieties.
No wonder the economy of Italy is going down the tubes.
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Italian mobsters ‘demand protection money’ from mafia TV drama
A mafia informer has alleged that the series Squadra Antimafia (The Antimafia Team), a popular Italian TV show, has come rather too close to its subject matter.
By Nick Squires, Rome
5:30PM GMT 14 Dec 2011
Monica Vitale, a mafia chieftain’s former girlfriend, has told detectives that mobsters from Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia, demanded protection money and controlled the supply of goods and services for the drama.
Ms Vitale, 28, who is now a pentita, or informer, is said to have claimed that the mob demanded payment — known in Italian slang as pizzo — from the production company Taodue in return for allowing the show to be filmed in and around Palermo. She is also said to have claimed that it controlled all transport services for the production as well as catering for the cast and crew.
The mob also had a man employed on the set of the show, which has been filmed in Sicily’s largest city since 2009, according to Ms Vitale.
Paolo Piccinelli, a police colonel, said: “We’ve verified that an employee of the production company was in league with a person close to the mafia.
The series, which stars the actress Simona Cavallari as a detective leading a team of officers, is broadcast on Canale 5, a channel owned by Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister. One episode was based on the disappearance of a boy whose father was involved in the Basta Pizzo, which encourages businesses and shop owners to stand up to extortion.
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