美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Tough Guy' Farmers Stand Up To Italian Mafia — And Win

'Tough Guy' Farmers Stand Up To Italian Mafia — And Win 

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Imagine a tough guy who stands up to organized crime and wins. Who comes to mind? A cop? A crusading prosecutor²? In the Calabria region of southern Italy, the tough guys who've neutralized³ the local mafia aren't the sort that you might expect. Christopher Livesay has that story.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY, BYLINE⁴: Daniele Pacicca makes organic olive oil in the region of Calabria, the toe of Italy's boot. He rides a tractor through his grove⁵ of over a thousand trees. One morning this summer, he was shocked to find 13 of them had been hacked⁶ to the ground.

DANIELE PACICCA: (Through interpreter) It was like a kick in the stomach. Look at them. I don't think it was an accident that they chose the most visible ones closest to the road. Maybe someone was trying to teach me a lesson.

LIVESAY: Pacicca is pretty sure who that was - the 'Ndrangheta, the region's organized crime group. Typically, when they attack a farmer, they'll do it again and again until the farmer pays protection money and vows⁷ loyalty⁸. But that's not what Pacicca did.

PACICCA: (Through interpreter) We cried out, enough. This can't go on any longer with this mafia system. That's the idea behind GOEL.

LIVESAY: That's GOEL Bio, a consortium of organic farmers just like Pacicca. Here's the deal. If the 'Ndrangheta strikes, members pitch in to help out the victim. In Pacicca's case, that meant replacing his 13 trees. And then...

PACICCA: (Through interpreter) They chopped down 13 trees. So we planted twice as many, 26.

LIVESAY: Vincenzo Linarello is the founder⁹ of GOEL Bio.

VINCENZO LINARELLO: (Through interpreter) The idea is to send a message right away that they can't stop us. And we'll get up stronger every time they strike. They work by sending signals. So we need to send a signal.

LIVESAY: The 'Ndrangheta has become Italy's biggest organized crime group, reaping tens of billions of euros annually¹⁰. According to one think tank, it's more profitable than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank combined.

ANNA SERGI: I would say that is actually a conservative estimate.

LIVESAY: Anna Sergi is an expert on the 'Ndrangheta at the University of Essex. She says the crime syndicate gets most of its money from international drug trafficking.

SERGI: And the only way to do it is, essentially¹¹, to control everything that happens in Calabria. So they engage in extortion rackets, intimidation¹² and violence. If you want to establish your own commercial activity, you have to essentially pay something to someone to get things done.

LIVESAY: Calabria is Italy's poorest region. With local unemployment at 23 percent, many Calabrians face a choice. Do business with the mafia or don't work at all. The founder of GOEL Bio, Vincenzo Linarello, gives locals a third option, like what he's done for orange farmers.

LINARELLO: (Through interpreter) Farmers around here typically earn 5 cents per kilo of oranges. That's exploitative. Our members earn 40 cents per kilo.

LIVESAY: They get this because they sell to the high-end organic market in Europe. And GOEL Bio has developed its own local supply chain that stretches from the fields...

LIVESAY: ...To the packaging centers...

LIVESAY: ...All the way to restaurants...

LIVESAY: ...Each a vetted¹³ part of the GOEL network. Perhaps surprisingly, the 'Ndrangheta has not physically¹⁴ attacked anyone from GOEL. Bad publicity¹⁵ from mob hits is one reason the infamous¹⁶ Cosa Nostra in Sicily is in decline. So professor Sergi says the 'Ndrangheta avoids them.

SERGI: It is bad for business because it attracts attention. And definitely, the 'Ndrangheta is not like Cosa Nostra. They don't like being looked at. They don't have the big houses. They don't have the big cars.

LIVESAY: But they're still known to kill. A lawyer who was investigating the 'Ndrangheta was recently gunned down in his driveway. But GOEL Bio keeps resisting, helping¹⁷ locals like Annalisa Fiorenza, who runs a farm and inn. The protection racketeers attacked her place seven times in the past seven years. Last October, someone burned down her barn just before the citrus harvest.

ANNALISA FIORENZA: (Speaking Italian).

LIVESAY: "I felt like giving up," she says. As she opens the new barn door, she explains that GOEL Bio helped her rebuild and get up and running in less than two months.

FIORENZA: (Through interpreter) I thought, no, this is crazy. There's still the smell of smoke in the air. But it was the best way to respond, to confront them together.

LIVESAY: And this, says Fiorenza, is the only way things will change. For NPR News, I'm Christopher Livesay in Calabria.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRACTOR)

(SOUNDBITE OF TRACTOR)

(SOUNDBITE OF PACKAGING CENTER)

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEWING)

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

3 neutralized   

v.使失效( neutralize的过去式和过去分词 )；抵消；中和；使（一个国家）中立化

参考例句：

• Acidity in soil can be neutralized by spreading lime on it. 土壤的酸性可以通过在它上面撒石灰来中和。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This strategy effectively neutralized what the Conservatives had hoped would be a vote-winner. 这一策略有效地冲淡了保守党希望在选举中获胜的心态。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

6 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

7 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

8 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

13 vetted   

v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的过去式和过去分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• The recruits were thoroughly vetted before they were allowed into the secret service. 情报机关招募的新成员要经过严格的审查。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All staff are vetted for links with extremist groups before being employed. 所有职员录用前均须审查是否与极端分子团体有关。 来自辞典例句

14 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

15 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

16 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。