PALMI, Italy (Reuters) - Most southern Italian businessmen do not cross the 'Ndrangheta mafia. Gaetano Saffioti did, and paid a high price.
The owner of a successful cement business near the small town of Palmi, Saffioti in 2002 became one of only 30 people to turn state's witness against Calabria's 'Ndrangheta.
That year, out of deference to the mobsters or fear, 55 of his 60 employees quit, local banks closed his accounts, and his clients shunned him. His company's sales fell 97 percent, and he and his family have lived under 24-hour armed guard ever since.
"Most businessmen learn to live with the 'Ndrangheta," Federico Cafiero de Raho, chief prosecutor in the region's largest city, Reggio Calabria, said of the crime syndicate with a global reach and deep pockets thanks to narcotics.
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