Palermo commemorates Libero Grassi, slain by Mafia

Palermo, August 29 - Officials including Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso on Monday attended a ceremony in Palermo to commemorate businessman Libero Grassi, who was murdered by the Mafia 25 years ago after refusing to be an extortion victim. Grassi (July 19, 1924 - August 29, 1991) was a clothing manufacturer from Palermo who wrote an open letter to the local newspaper informing the extortionists that he was no longer willing to pay them protection money. He was gunned down in the street near his home eight months later, and his death sparked an anti-racketeering movement led by his widow Pina Maisano, who died in June aged 87. "The Mafia still exists, but thanks to the dismantling of the political-business-organized crime system, it no longer runs Palermo," said Mayor Leoluca Orlando. "May the memory of Libero Grassi serve to give a new impetus to the battle against the Mafia powers that continue to strangle many productive sectors in their racketeering vise," said Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission chair, Rosy Bindi. "(Grassi) was a courageous man who defended the dignity and liberty of his work... his battle and his sacrifice left us a precious heritage of civil commitment, which was picked up by late wife Pina... and the many.... who have stopped bowing to criminal blackmail, in Grassi's name".