AI-generated transcript, reviewed and corrected by Jacques Bertrand. Timestamps refer to the original audio.

[00:05] Italians resisting the mafia their courage, our inspiration. This is the Omerta Overcomers Podcast with Jacques Bertrand.

[00:24] Beatrice Portinari, welcome! This is the first of 20 episodes, all dedicated to you, Beatrice. This podcast talks about courageous Italians who stand up to the mafia. In the first part of the episode, the story is fictional, so that I can bring together various situations that Italians go through when they’re facing organized crime. In the second part, I talk about real people, real cases. For so many of them, the Mafia makes life hard and very dangerous. And yet they keep going. It’s so amazing, and it’s also inspiring. I believe we outside Italy can learn from what works over there and also from what’s not working so well. Now, a quick word about me. Over 30 years, I’ve worked with civil society organizations and I spent a good part of it based in Rome. I was heading the global advocacy department of a humanitarian network based in the Vatican. Our focus was peace and economic justice around the world. Nowadays, I live in Canada in Montreal, and a non-profit I’m with supports victims of organized violence who are suffering from trauma. So all this background led me to this podcast. It’s about understanding and, when possible, supporting those who dare to say no to oppression, in this case, no to organized crime. So, Beatrice, in a future episode I’ll explain why I’m talking to you. For now, let me introduce my first fiction with something very real that you may remember. In Rome, there was this mafia boss named Vittorio Casamonica. In 2015 he passed away. His funeral wasn’t a typical quiet ceremony. It turned into a full-blown spectacle. Hundreds of people showed up outside the church. A helicopter dropped rose pet holes over the crowd and there were huge posters of Vittorio Casamonica dressed up like the Pope! Oh, and they had music: They played the theme from the Godfather movie. It was extremely embarrassing for Rome and the church. But after that flashy celebration, the police and the media started to pay more attention. Things began to change and serious investigations were started. One big mistake that the Casamonica made was when they targeted a bar. They expected the owners, a couple, to keep quiet about it, but these two, they did the opposite, they spoke up! In the second part of this podcast, I’ll come back to that couple and how they broke the omerta. But first, here’s that short fictional story, just so that we can imagine what people might feel like when facing organized crime.

[03:21] Courage behind the counter, lessons from a small bar in Rome. the story of Noemia and Alex. Okay, let’s meet Noemia and Alex. They came to Italy from Romania for a better life. They opened a bar, a cafe, in Rome, not far from the famous Cinecitta movie studios. In this part of Rome, life is controlled by a clan, let’s call them the Calenda. One morning, Noemia drops off her child at the babysitter. Suddenly her phone rings. It’s Alex. Noemia come quickly! They just destroyed everything! Minutes later, Noemia arrives at the bar. The scene is chaotic. Tables are flipped, chairs are broken, and there’s broken glass everywhere. Alex is sitting on the floor with blood on his face. “What happened?” she asks. “It was those two guys from the Calenda family. They came in for coffee, they complained it was bad. One of them slapped me in front of all the customers. Then things got out of hand. They were throwing bottles all over the place. I tried to stop them, but they smashed my head against the wall. I think my nose is broken.” “No one helped?” Noemia asks. “No, the customers got scared and ran out.” Noemia calls for an ambulance and the police. Then she surveys the damage. This bar was their dream. The police sympathize with them, they know the calendars. Thanks to video cameras, they immediately identify the two men responsible for the violence. They watch as the two bullies provoke Alex, they hit him, and then they ransack the whole place. When the clan members are done, they smile at the camera, they make an obscene gesture, and they leave. They clearly believe that they’re invincible. That they can get away with anything. That night at home, Noemia and Alex are still shocked. Their emotions go from sorrows to fear to anger. Alex, with his nose wrapped in bandages, tells Noemia, maybe we should drop the charges. Noemia looks at him. “What? We can’t let them get away with this.” Alex points to his face. “Think about what could happen if we continue! They could come back, and it might be worse.” “If we give up, this will never end!” Noemia insists. “They’ll come to our bar, take what they want, and soon demand protection money.” “I know,” says Alex, “but here, others like us are quiet for a reason. They’re scared.” Noemia tells him, “I’m scared too, Alex, but if we don’t stand up now, we’ll live in fear forever. Is that the life we want?” “No, of course not,” says Alex, “but we need to be practical. We can’t risk everything we’ve built.” “Remember why we came here?” Noemia urges. “We left Romania for a better life. Are we going to let these criminals destroy our dream?” Alex says: “I don’t want to give up on our dream, but what if pressing charges makes things worse?” “It might,” Noemia admits, “but if we don’t do this, we’re letting them win. We can’t let fear control our lives. We have to believe in justice and that good people will stand with us.” “But what if no one does?” Alex asks. “Well, then we’ll be the first,” she replies. “We’ll show others it’s possible to stand up to these bullies. We can’t let them take our dignity and future.”

[07:01] All night long, Alex thinks about it. He’s only half convinced, but at 3 in the morning he wakes Noemia up. “Okay, let’s show them we’re not afraid. Even though we are.” With a mix of fear and hope, the couple finally decides to face whatever comes their way. They know others have tried before and were deeply disappointed. They just hope it won’t happen to them too. The story of Noemia and Alex quickly gains media coverage. She gives dozens of interviews. It’s compelling: a woman, an immigrant standing against a powerful mafia clan known for its brutality. And it’s all happening in Rome, the capital, not in the south of Italy.

[07:49] Before the bar’s reopening, while they’re still busy cleaning up the mess, a visitor shows up. He’s tall and imposing. He looks around and seems embarrassed. “I’m Paolo Calenda,” he says. “I’m really sorry. One of those responsible is my brother. He struggles with drugs and has been jailed before.” Noemia and Alex listen in silence. “My brother is a good person,” Paolo continues. He’s trying to turn his life around. He has four young children, and his wife left him a month ago. Noemia interrupts. “I’m sorry for your brother, but he and his friend did serious harm. Look at my husband’s face.” Paolo replies, “I know. I came to apologize on behalf of our family. We’re not as bad as the media says. If my brother gets arrested again, it could destroy him.” Paolo pulls out an envelope. “Would 20,000 euros be a way to resolve this?” Noemia senses Alex might want to say yes, so she quickly responds, “20,000??? That doesn’t even cover half the damage!” Paolo says, “Alright, I’ll give you 40,000… if you drop the charges.” Before Alex can speak, Noemia firmly says, “We will never accept your money. It comes from drugs and extortion of people like us.” Paolo stares down at her with his dark eyes. The tension is obvious. Alex, despite his broken nose and smaller stature, steps closer to Paolo, trying to look confident. After a moment Paolo simply says, “Okay, just remember my offer.” He turns around and leaves. Alone with Noemia, Alex explodes. “Noemia! You just turned down 40,000 euros!” “I know, and we did the right thing! If he was willing to give us 40,000, it’s because he understands they’re in trouble. I saw him: he took a good look at the cameras. He realizes that the police have images. It’s their turn to be afraid.”

[10:00] The couple meets with a lawyer who explains that indeed, the Calendas have reasons to be worried. “A savvy mafia avoids public scrutiny,” explains the lawyer. When the public starts asking what the police are doing, sometimes the authorities take action. And they have many options to disrupt the activities of a clan. They can increase surveillance, they can raid locations linked to the clan, they can launch financial investigations, they can encourage people to testify against the clan, and they can also make arrests, even for minor infractions. In a given neighborhood, this can push away the drug market, at least for a while. And in this case, the police can arrest the two thugs who committed the offense right in front of the cameras. In the meantime, Paolo Calenda is wondering, what can he do now that Noemia refused his money? Well, maybe it’s not too late to intimidate her. He sends his men to the bar, sometimes up to 10 of them at the same time. They don’t do anything wrong, they just sit around drinking coffee, talking loudly, That’s enough to scare regular customers. When that happens, Alex sends a message to the police and they dispatch a patrol car. This little game goes on for 10 days until the police announce the arrests of the two bullies for what they did at the bar. Noemia and Alex have now reached a different status, and the Calendas have a choice. They can get angry and make things worse, or they can keep a low profile, if they don’t want any more trouble with the police. The clan chooses to leave them alone, at least for the time being, so Noemia and Alex can now carry on with their business. Visibility and recognition serve as a shield that protects them, but only to a certain extent. Let’s be realistic, the fear never really goes away because you can never be sure that something bad won’t happen again someday.

[12:27] Beatrice, creating a story like this one is an attempt at exploring the mindset of people who are resisting the Mafia. But their reality is much more complex than what I can describe in a few minutes. Like I said at the beginning, this story was inspired by a real case. Roxana and Marianne Roman owned a bar in the south of Rome. They experienced the brutality of the Casamonica clan. On Easter Sunday in 2018, two men ransacked Roxana’s bar and assaulted her husband and a female customer. Roxana went to the police. The attackers were jailed, one for six years. Roxana’s courage earned her the title of Cavaliere della Repubblica from the President of Italy. You can find more information about her at omertaovercomers.ca. This seems like a happy ending, but it’s important to be aware of the broader context. In those years, the Casamonica clan was under a lot of pressure from the authorities. After the flashy funerals of Vittorio Casamonica in 2015, the clan was the focus of serious investigations. Arrests were made and in 2021, 44 top members of this organization were sentenced to a total of over 400 years of prison time. This was Rome, the capital, where an arrogant clan had gone too far.

[14:03] We’re grateful for your presence today. For more information, check out our website at… omertaovercomers.ca. Feel free to connect with Jacques at MyReaction@protonmail.com

[14:20] And please, spread the word by sharing this episode with two or three people. We appreciate you. A presto.