Who was the boss of the Camorra?
In memory there is a golden era when the Camorra was strong. The boss then was a recluse named Paolo Di Lauro, a presence rarely seen, who is now in prison effectively for life and stands as one of the greatest Camorristi of all time.
What is the Camorra?
It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 17th century. Unlike the pyramidal structure of the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra's organizational structure is divided into individual groups also called "clans".
Who are the actors in the movie Camorra?
Camorra is a 1972 film, directed by Pasquale Squitieri, starring Fabio Testi and Jean Seberg. "Commendatori", an episode of The Sopranos which features the Camorra. One of the Camorra's members, Furio Giunta then joins the DiMeo crime family of the Cosa Nostra.
Who are the most powerful groups in the Camorra?
According to Naples public prosecutor Giovanni Melillo, during a 2021 speech of the Antimafia Commission, the most powerful groups of the Camorra in the present day are the Mazzarella clan and the Secondigliano Alliance. The latter is an alliance of the Licciardi, Contini and Mallardo clans.
What does Camorra mean in Italian?
The Camorra (Italian: [kaˈmɔrra]; Neapolitan: [kaˈmorrə]) is an Italian Mafia-type criminal organization and criminal society originating in the region of Campania. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 17th century.
How many Camorra clans are there?
111 Camorra clansA clan is a basic unit in the Camorra, a criminal organization originating in Campania. Currently it is estimated there are about 111 Camorra clans, and about 7,000 full members.
Is the Camorra in the US?
The Brooklyn Camorra or New York Camorra was a loose grouping of early-20th-century organized crime groups that formed among Italian immigrants originating in Naples and the surrounding Campania region living in Greater New York, particularly in Brooklyn.
Who is the boss of Secondigliano?
Boss: Arcangelo Abete. (Currently serving a life sentence in prison.)
Why is Naples so dirty?
The city has been a dumping ground for toxic waste for decades. Naples' trash problem goes way back. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Camorra, the local mafia in Italy's Campania region, has been dumping industrial and nuclear waste in and around the city of Naples since the 1990s.
Is Gomorrah realistic?
Gomorrah is based on actual events – but what's real and what's been added for dramatic effect? The twisting storylines of the show have yielded an abundance of ultra-violence and bloodshed beyond our wildest imaginations. Each episode can be likened to The Wire, The Sopranos – and even Game of Thrones.
What does Secondigliano mean in English?
Secondigliano (Italian: [sekondiʎˈʎaːno]) is an old Italian municipality which became a modern suburb in the north of Naples.
Where in Naples is Gomorrah set?
ScampiaJust a few years ago, Le Vele – a sprawling housing estate in Scampia, on the outskirts of Naples – was both the fictional location for the hit crime film and Italian TV series Gomorrah and the real-life location for the biggest international drugs and arms supermarket in western Europe.
What is Secondigliano?
Secondigliano (Italian: [sekondi?ˈ?aːno]) is an old Italian municipality which became a modern suburb in the north of Naples.
Who are the bosses of the five families today?
At the time of his testimony in 1963, Valachi revealed that the current bosses of the Five Families were Tommy Lucchese, Vito Genovese, Joseph Colombo, Carlo Gambino, and Joe Bonanno.
What are the four different types of organized crime?
The six prominent forms of organized crime identified are: Money-laundering. Asset misappropriation. Counterfeiting and contraband. Fraud and extortion. Human trafficking. Cybercrime.
Do mafias still exist?
The Mafia is currently most active in the northeastern United States, with the heaviest activity in New York City, and with a substantial presence in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Buffalo and New England, in areas such as Boston, Providence and Hartford.
What organized crime examples?
These groups engage in a myriad of criminal activity including passport fraud, access device fraud, identify theft, healthcare fraud, real estate fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution, and extortion.
Who is the most famous mobster?
Al Capone was one of the most famous gangsters during the roaring twenties. Born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1899 to immigrant parents, Capone was recruited by members of the Five Points Gang in the early 1920s.
What caused organized crime?
Failed States have weak institutions and high levels of corruption, which can be both a symptom and cause of organized criminal activity. Economic failure, such as high unemployment, low standards of living, and reliance on underground markets, stimulates criminal organizations to supply goods, services and jobs.
What is the Camorra?
The Camorra is an Italian Mafia -type crime syndicate, or secret society , which arose in the region of Campania and its capital Naples. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating back to the 17th century. Unlike the pyramidal structure of the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra's organizational structure is more horizontal than vertical. Consequently, individual Camorra clans act independently of each other, and are more prone to feuding among themselves.
When was the Camorra founded?
The Camorra first emerged during the chaotic power vacuum in the years between 1799 and 1815 , when the Parthenopean Republic was proclaimed on the wave of the French Revolution and the Bourbon Restoration. The first official mention of the Camorra as an organization dates from 1820, when police records detail a disciplinary meeting of the Camorra, a tribunal known as the Gran Mamma. That year a first written statute, the frieno, was also discovered, indicating a stable organisational structure in the underworld. Another statute was discovered in 1842, including initiation rites and funds set aside for the families of those imprisoned. The organization was also known as the Bella Società Riformata, Società dell'Umirtà or Onorata Società .
What was the evolution of the Camorra?
The evolution into more organized formations indicated a qualitative change: the Camorra and camorristi were no longer local gangs living off theft and extortion; they now had a fixed structure and some kind of hierarchy. Another qualitative leap was the agreement of the liberal opposition and the Camorra, following the defeat in the 1848 revolution. The liberals realized that they needed popular support to overthrow the king. They turned to the Camorra and paid them, the camorristi being the leaders of the city's poor. The new police chief, Liborio Romano, turned to the head of the Camorra, Salvatore De Crescenzo, to maintain order and appointed him as head of the municipal guard. The Camorra effectively had developed into power brokers in a few decades. In 1869, Ciccio Cappuccio was elected as the capintesta (head-in-chief) of the Camorra by the twelve district heads ( capintriti ), succeeding De Crescenzo after a short interregnum. Nicknamed 'The king of Naples' (' ‘o rre 'e Napole) he died in 1892.
How do Camorra clans make money?
With little to no overhead, Camorra clans and their associates see very high profit margins. According to author Roberto Saviano, the Camorra uses child labour to drive the waste in for a small price, as they do not complain about the health risks as the older truckers might.
How many Camorra clans are there in Italy?
Currently, it is estimated there are about 111 Camorra clans and over 6,700 members in Naples and the immediate surroundings. Roberto Saviano, an investigative journalist and author of Gomorra, an exposé of the activities of the Camorra, says that this sprawling network of Camorra clans now dwarfs the Sicilian Mafia, the 'Ndrangheta and southern Italy's other organised gangs, in numbers, in economic power and in ruthless violence.
How difficult is it to fight the Camorra?
He exploits the elections and the elected for gain. The leaders distribute bands throughout the town, and they have recoursed to violence to obtain the vote of the electors for the candidates whom they have determined to support. Those who refuse to vote as instructed are beaten, slashed with knives, or kidnapped. All this is done with assurance of impunity, as the Camorrists will have the protection of successful politicians, who realize that they cannot be chosen to office without paying toll to the Camorra."
What was the Saredo inquiry?
The Saredo Inquiry (1900–1901), established to investigate corruption and bad governance in Naples, identified a system of political patronage ran by what the report called the "high Camorra":
Who was the first female Camorrista to become the boss of the Licciardi clan?
Licciardi rose to power and took over as head of the clan, after her two brothers, Pietro and Vincenzo, and her husband were arrested. She was the first female Camorrista to become the boss of the Licciardi clan, and take over as head of the Secondigliano Alliance.
Who is Maria Licciardi?
v. t. e. Maria Licciardi ( Italian pronunciation: [maˈriːa litˈtʃardi]; born 24 March 1951) is an Italian criminal affiliated with the Camorra, head of the Licciardi clan, and one of the bosses of the Secondigliano Alliance.
Why is Licciardi called La Madrina?
Licciardi was referred to as La Madrina ("The Godmother") by fellow Camorristi and earned the nickname La Piccolina ("The Little Girl") early on in her criminal career, due to her diminutive height. Among Camorra women she is known respectfully as La Principessa ("The Princess"), due to her good standing.
What happened to Licciardi?
Thanks to a sophisticated network of protection set up by her clan, Licciardi was able to evade capture for two years and, despite having changed her refuge several times, never left the Masseria Cardone district. While on the lam, she continued as the undisputed boss of the Licciardi clan and ordered several murders of rival mobsters. She went to war with the Giuliano clan of Forcella, which was headed by another female Camorra boss Erminia Giuliano, who took control after the arrest of her brother, Luigi Giuliano.
Who was asked in court about the role of Maria Licciardi and women in the Secondigliano Alliance?
When the pentito Gaetano Guida was asked in court about the role of Maria Licciardi and women in the Secondigliano Alliance, he replied:
What was the most important thing that Licciardi did?
Licciardi introduced many revolutionary changes to the clan. Perhaps the most important among them was the involvement in the prostitution trade.
Who was the boss of the Camorra?
In memory there is a golden era when the Camorra was strong. The boss then was a recluse named Paolo Di Lauro, a presence rarely seen, who is now in prison effectively for life and stands as one of the greatest Camorristi of all time. Little is known of his early years except that he was born in Secondigliano in 1953, was orphaned young, and was adopted by a family of modest means that had a house near the center of the district. The mother was a housewife, the father a simple laborer. They were deep Neapolitans who spoke a dialect nearly unintelligible elsewhere in Italy. Di Lauro attended a few years of primary school before dropping out and getting to work, first as an assistant for a local shopkeeper. By his late teens he had moved to the industrial zones of far-off Northern Italy, where he worked door-to-door selling underwear and bedsheets to migrant factory workers from the South. In local parlance such merchants are known as magliari, a word that can also mean cheaters. There is no evidence that Di Lauro cheated anyone at the time, but his subsequent history indicates that he might not have hesitated if given the chance. He was quiet and unusually ambitious. In the North he made a bit of money and developed a taste for card games and gambling. It turned out that he was mathematically inclined. Back in Secondigliano he married a local girl who in 1973 bore him the first of 11 children—all of them sons. His wife was very Catholic, as was he. They loved each other very much.
What is the Camorra?
The Camorra is not an organization like the Mafia that can be separated from society, disciplined in court, or even quite defined. It is an amorphous grouping in Naples and its hinterlands of more than 100 autonomous clans and perhaps 10,000 immediate associates, along with a much larger population of dependents, clients, and friends. It is an understanding, a way of justice, a means of creating wealth and spreading it around. It has been a part of life in Naples for centuries—far longer than the fragile construct called Italy has even existed. At its strongest it has grown in recent years into a complete parallel world and, in many people’s minds, an alternative to the Italian government, whatever that term may mean. Neapolitans call it “the system” with resignation and pride. The Camorra offers them work, lends them money, protects them from the government, and even suppresses street crime. The problem is that periodically the Camorra also tries to tear itself apart, and when that happens, ordinary Neapolitans need to duck.
What happened to Di Lauro's son?
In May 2004 one of his sons was killed in a motor-scooter accident. He was a passenger on the back, riding without a helmet. Di Lauro was devastated and became ineffectual for a while. This may help to explain why at around this time he made the greatest error of his life, when he decided to hand over power to a child he loved beyond reason, Cosimo, his firstborn son. Cosimo, aged 30, was a full-blown psychopath known for brutality. He wore long, stringy hair and black clothes in imitation of a gothic fantasy character from the movie The Crow. He kept a Lamborghini in Paris. He was a heartthrob for lower-class girls, who were thrilled by his aggression and his style. For much the same reason he was surrounded by a crew of young gunmen full of swagger. Cosimo had been involved in Camorra business since his teenage years and had recently concluded that the clan’s principal associates, the long-honored franchisees, had grown too independent and greedy, and that his father—a mere accountant, after all—had lacked the courage to take them on. All that was going to change, now that he was in charge. Henceforward all drug supplies would be purchased exclusively from the Di Lauro family, and associates would essentially become its employees, to be paid as Cosimo saw fit, and under his control. Any who objected would be replaced—one way or another. It was obvious that the old-timers were not going to accept these terms, nor, for that matter, could they accept the authority of such an immature leader. Through an intermediary, Di Lauro ordered his son to desist. The intermediary said, “I bring a message from your father. Do not do this war.” It was too late. Cosimo answered, “Papa doesn’t count anymore.”
What was the name of the dog that Di Lauro had?
The family had a huge Neapolitan mastiff named Primo Carnera, after the Italian heavyweight boxer. The dog slept in his own room. The house was the same simple one Di Lauro had lived in as a child, though expanded, fortified, and guarded.
Why did Di Lauro scold the boy?
Word of the incident traveled fast. It is said that when the boy got home Di Lauro scolded him for misbehaving. Others in the clan, however, felt that the family had been insulted. Three of them went to the school, sought out the teacher, and slapped him as he had slapped Di Lauro’s son—or perhaps a little more.
Where was Ruocco found?
Three months later, in August 1992, the police found Ruocco in Milan, where he had been cowering in fear of Di Lauro’s wrath. He jumped from a third-floor window when the police arrived, landed badly, and ended up in prison, where after a period of silence he began spilling the Camorra’s secrets, including the story of La Monica’s murder. It was the state’s first break, but a lousy one. After much confusion and fuss, all that came of Ruocco’s cooperation was his own conviction for conspiracy. By 1994 the ruckus had died down. According to Simone Di Meo, this was the moment when the Italian press first identified Di Lauro and his clan. If so, the police weren’t reading the papers, because the detectives who later ran the seven-year investigation that ultimately brought Di Lauro down told me that at the start, in 1995, they had never heard of the man by name.
Where did Di Lauro get his drugs?
Once in Secondigliano, the drugs were diluted and fed into the booming piazzas, as well as to an extensive wholesale network elsewhere in Italy, and in Germany and France. Meanwhile, Di Lauro was manufacturing counterfeit brand-name goods, which he wholesaled in Western Europe, Brazil, and the United States. Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Gucci, Prada—that sort of stuff. Some of the counterfeits were made by the same Italian factories that produced the originals, and were identical down to the stitching; others were crude knockoffs. It was a profitable business, and not the sort that would normally get you killed. An even better business turned out to be the trade in counterfeit cameras and power tools—shoddy Chinese imitations smuggled into Italy by Di Lauro and sold to the credulous far and wide.
