Camorra cause a stink in Naples

Were it not for the fact that he had no intention of paying, the cocaine dealer who approached the chemist's counter seemed just like another customer picking up his regular prescription.

"Good evening doctor," he announced quietly. "My stuff has just arrived. Give me what you know you have to give me, and bring it to the place around the corner."

Without batting an eyelid, the assistant disappeared into the backroom to fetch a batch of Manitolo - better known as a mild laxative for babies, but also favoured by Naples' drug dealers as a cutting agent to make their "stuff" go further.

So went another one-sided transaction of "pizzo", the centuries-old tradition in which the city's feared Camorra gangsters extort good or services from local shopkeepers: the only unusual thing about this one was that a Sunday Telegraph reporter happened to witness it