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November 9, 2011 by Angela Shupe | 2 Comments

Filippo Callipo sometimes wonders why he is still alive. That is the question he is left asking himself after refusing to play the mob in the small Italian town where he runs his businesses.

But it also means he makes the sign of the cross when he leaves home. It is a silent prayer that he will return each day from overseeing four businesses that provide 350 jobs in a region that has one of Italy’s highest unemployment rates.

The company, which had revenues of about 40 million euros in 2010, sells high-quality tuna to supermarkets and up-market, gourmet specialty shops the world over.

He also owns Callipo Gelati, which produces the Pizzo area’s famed ice cream for worldwide export, a 200-bed luxury country resort and health spa overlooking the Mediterranean, and a volleyball team that plays in Italy’s national first division.

Achieving all this would be impressive anywhere in Italy. Achieving it in an economically depressed region like Calabria, home of one of the world’s most feared and powerful organised crime groups, the ‘Ndrangheta, is perhaps unique.