The businessman who defied the Mafia
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2021
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Palermo businessman Libero Grassi published an open letter in Sicily’s main newspaper denouncing the Mafia for constantly demanding extortion payments. Grassi was hailed as a hero, but his public refusal to pay was intolerable to the Mafia and a few months later, in the summer of 1991, he was executed in person by one of Cosa Nostra’s top bosses. Libero Grassi’s defiance is credited with inspiring a new grass-roots movement among businesses in Sicily that stands up to the Mafia. Simon Watts spoke to his daughter, Alice Grassi.
This programme is a rebroadcast
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
| 0:06.8 | searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the |
| 0:11.8 | telly we share what we've been watching |
| 0:14.0 | Cladie Aide. |
| 0:16.0 | Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming. |
| 0:19.0 | Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige. |
| 0:21.0 | And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less |
| 0:24.9 | searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds. This is the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Simon Watts. |
| 0:40.0 | Today I'm bringing you a program from our archives. |
| 0:43.4 | It's the story of a businessman who paid the ultimate price for standing up to the Italian |
| 0:48.7 | mafia in its traditional stronghold of Sicily. |
| 0:52.4 | Libra Ograssi inspired a campaign against organized crime on the island. |
| 0:57.0 | In August 1991, one of the most powerful crime families in Sicily, the Madonilla gang, sent a driver to follow Libra Ograsi. |
| 1:10.0 | The Piedna is for a week |
| 1:15.0 | him for a week to see if he went around by himself or if he had protection. |
| 1:20.0 | When we were sure that he always left his home alone, Salvino Madonia decided to kill him. |
| 1:27.0 | The driver, Marco Favalloro, later turned informant. |
| 1:31.0 | This is the evidence he gave against Salvino Madonilla. |
| 1:35.0 | Madonilla, my dear point to me to meet him near a newsstand in the centre of town. |
| 1:42.0 | He then told me to drive his car and we pulled up alongside |
| 1:45.2 | Libero Grasse's vehicle. Madonea told me to keep the engine running and the right-hand door |
| 1:50.7 | open. When the target left the building, Madanilla got out of the |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.