Looming above a hundred grey headstones in a Russian cemetery, tacky monuments like these - with the tomb's incumbent and his faithful sports car etched onto the stone - appear on the horizon. Read more...

Four years ago, young people from Palermo launched a website called Adio Pizzo to condemn illegal taxes imposed on Sicilian traders. Today, they have convinced almost 200 shopkeepers to break the silence and refuse to pay the ‘Pizzo' mafia tax. One of the scheme's organisers, Chloe Tucciarelli, and a local businessman, Riccardo Agnello, tell us about their fight against the Cosa Nostra.Read more...

A company owner who refused to pay taxes to the mafia had his property burnt down, 19 August 2007