bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Two scoops of pistachio, one of corruption.
For years, holidaymakers have enjoyed Sicilian gelato at famous parlours in Palermo, Italy, unaware that the booming businesses were controlled by organised crime.
The fraud was a textbook case for detectives trained to sniff out dirty money, but even with three mobster classics – a suspicious bankruptcy, a frontman and a scheming “Godfather” – it took years for investigators to shut the operation down.
The Brioscia brand, which operated two ice cream parlours, was thriving at the end of the 2010s, attracting residents and foreign visitors alike with its glittering gold stars on travel websites.
The shops were run by Mario Mancuso. Behind the scenes was Michele Micalizzi, who had served several stretches in jail for mafia association.
Mancuso took care of the ice cream, Micalizzi managed the rest.

That included taking a cut of the profits for protecting Mancuso from extortion attempts by other gangsters, a judicial source said.
But the company was in the name of Mancuso’s wife, and when divorce loomed the men feared they would lose control.
They declared Brioscia bankrupt in 2021, blaming the €4 million (US$4.3 million) hole in the books on a lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the source said.
“It was a flourishing business, very well known in Palermo. The bankruptcy was therefore unjustified,” he said.
Suspicious investigators used wiretaps to discover the two men – far from being bankrupt – had grand plans to open parlours abroad.












View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Alice Taylor (@alicewearn)



The pair launched a new company called Sharbat, renaming the shops, the source said.
“I’m not even sure the employees knew who they were working for,” a nearby shop worker said on condition of anonymity.
Investigators say the men divided the windfall, with Micalizzi passing part of it to his jailed relatives to pay for legal fees or sundries.
But on August 12, the police pounced, arresting both men and four accomplices, and seizing €1.5 million.
Mancuso and Micalizzi are being prosecuted for criminal association of a mafia nature, extortion and fraudulent bankruptcy.
Between drug trafficking, racketeering, public procurement, legal companies or empty shells dedicated to money laundering, Italy’s Central Bank estimates the annual turnover of the country’s organised crime groups at €40 billion, or two per cent of national wealth.

The mob still makes good money from traditional crimes such as drug trafficking. The ’Ndrangheta in the southern region of Calabria, for example, is responsible for much of Europe’s cocaine trade.
“It also makes direct investments in the legal economy,” according to Rocco Sciarrone, who teaches criminal psychology at Turin University in Italy.
Over two-thirds of mafia infiltrations are in the construction, trade, real estate and manufacturing sectors, according to a 2022 report by economist Antonio Parbonetti.
The mob also has tentacles in agriculture, hotels and restaurants, logistics, transport, and waste management.
How much the crime groups “invest” in each sector varies significantly from one region to another.

“The socio-economic fabric [in Sicily] is made up of small family businesses that lend themselves very well to money laundering,” said Eliseo Davi from Palermo University.
According to the Parbonetti report, one in two companies controlled by the mafia is a so-called star company, which generates comfortable income and employs people, and therefore has broad social, economic and political support.
In the Palermo gelato affair, the company did not have the necessary permits for one of the two shops, prompting calls for an investigation into whether there was collusion with public officials.
Near its ice cream parlours stands the former home of Giovanni Falcone, an anti-mafia judge whose 1992 assassination by the mob triggered a crackdown by the state that permanently weakened Cosa Nostra – the Sicilian mafia.
Just like US law enforcement agent Eliot Ness, who brought down gangster Al Capone, Falcone had a simple rule: follow the money.


Why one of Paris’ hardest-to-book restaurants is in a theme park far from the city centre

Having a little wine with a Mediterranean diet could be as good as statins for the heart

Your perfect week: what to do in Hong Kong, December 23-28

Drink in Focus: Festive Manhattan at DarkSide

Food and Drinks

It was a popular mafia-run gelato business in Sicily. How did Italian police take it down?

Sweet justice was served ice-cold when Italian police brought down a thriving mafia-run business selling gelato in Sicily. Photo: Shutterstock

It took years for investigators to shut the mafia-run gelato operation down. Photo: Shutterstock

A crowded street in Palermo, Italy, where police shut down mafia-run ice cream parlours. Italy’s Central Bank estimates the annual turnover of the country’s organised crime groups at €40 billion. Photo: Shutterstock

A Sicilian breakfast with pistachio gelato, almond and chocolate granita, and brioches. Photo: Shutterstock

What is XO sauce? The popular Chinese condiment explained

XO sauce is typically made with expensive ingredients such as dried scallops, shrimp roe, dried shrimps and Jinhua ham. Photo: Catty & Tael

 A jar of XO sauce from Hong Kong restaurant Ming Court. Photo: Ming Court

Charles Cheung is the owner and chef of private kitchen Catty and Tael. Photo: Catty and Tael

Ho Wai-shing is executive chef of The Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: The Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant

Li Yuet-faat is executive chef of Chinese cuisine at Ming Court in Mong Kok. Photo: Ming Court

How was Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars made? A look behind the scenes of the popular show

Chef Choi Kang-rok in a still from Culinary Class Wars. Photo: Netflix



The directors of Culinary Class Wars take us behind the scenes of its production, and explain why they were worried some chefs would walk out during filming. Photo: Netflix

Judges Paik Jong-won (left) and Anh Sung-jae in a still from Culinary Class Wars. Photo: Netflix

Chef Jung Ji-sun in a still from Culinary Class Wars. Photo: Netflix

Chef Choi Kang-rok in a still from Culinary Class Wars. Photo: Netflix

Restaurant, deli, dai pai dong are English words. What about cha chaan teng? Hopes grow

The Cha Chaan Teng pop-up created by the Hong Kong Tourism Board at Art Basel Paris under a three-year partnership to showcase the city’s culture to a global audience. Photo: Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB)

Some of the typical Hong Kong cafe menu items served in the Cha Chaan Teng pop-up tea restaurant at Art Basel Paris. Photo: HKTB

A delicatessen in East Village. Manhattan, New York. Such establishments began spreading through the city in the mid-1800s, spurring the word’s absorption into English. Photo: Getty Images 

The Kopitiam food court in Singapore. The Oxford English Dictionary recently added kopitiam, a Singaporean and Malaysian English word meaning coffee shop. Photo: Shutterstock

Hong Kong noodle history and the different noodle styles explained

Shrimp roe thick noodle lo mien from Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle in Hong Kong. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Roast goose with lai fun rice noodles from Yung Kee in Hong Kong. Learn about the different kinds of noodles served in the city, how they are traditionally made, and the foods they are typically paired with. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Wheat noodles originate in Northern China, while rice noodles have Southern Chinese origins, says Dr Siu Yan-ho, a lecturer in Chinese language and literature at Baptist University. 

Marco Li Ka-chi of Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle balancing on a bamboo pole to make noodles. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Shrimp roe thick noodle lo mien at Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

 Cheung Wing Kee started making noodles in the 1950s, producing small quantities using labour-intensive methods.

Roast goose with lai fun rice noodles. The thicker, neutral-tasting noodles are perfect for absorbing the flavours from the roast goose and broth. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Sweet justice was served ice-cold when Italian police brought down a thriving mafia-run ice cream empire in Sicily. How did they do it?


Crime

Italy