Gangland killings drop as police swoop

Press, 12 June 1984, Page 37

Gangland killings drop as police swoop

NZPA-Reuter Naples A successful police campaign to round up suspected mobsters has led to a dramatic drop in gangland killings and seems to have dealt a body blow to organised crime in Naples.

“I would never have believed so much could be achieved in two years,” says Franco Malvana, appointed head of the flying squad after his predecessor had been murdered by Red Brigade urban guerrillas seeking to forge an alliance with the Camorra, the Naples Mafia. More than 3000 suspected Camorra mobsters have been rounded up in the last 18 months in campaigns against two gangs, the rival Nuova Famiglia and Nuova Camorra Organisation bands in the povertystricken port of Naples. In April only one murder in the Naples area was attributed to the Camorra in official crime statistics, compared with 16 in April, 1983, and 27 in April, 1982, when underworld shootings were almost a daily occurrence.

When Aldo Monarca arrived in Naples two years ago to run the local police force, law and order was on the verge of collapse as the

two gangs fought a shooting war in the streets for control of the booming narcotics trade. A popular Italian cartoonist summed up the situation with a vignette depicting a television newscaster reading a bulletin from the seaport with the caption: “The main news from Naples today is that there has not been a murder in the last 24 hours.” Riccardo Boccia, the city Prefect responsible for upholding law and order in Naples, told Reuters that at the time he genuinely feared that an alliance between the extreme Leftist brigades and the Camorra could have produced “an Italian version of Beirut.” Mr Monarca, fresh from a tour of duty in the north where as police chief in the town of Bergamo he helped vanquish the Left-wing Prima Linea front-line urban guerrilla movement, lost no time in launching a twin offensive against the brigades and the Camorra. After smashing the brigades, the police had their hands free to concentrate on fighting organised crime. “We decided to carefully pinpoint the vital nerve centres of main Camorra gangs before moving in to

arrest gang leaders and neighbourhood organisers,” Mr Monarca said. The most spectacular achievement came in June last year, when the police mobilised 3000 men to round up 900 Camorra suspects in the biggest mass arrest in post-war Italian history. “I was absolutely amazed at our efficiency,” says Mr Malvano, a Neapolitan. “The whole operation took eight months to plan and we carried it out without a single hitch.” The police made good use of criminals who turned informers on their partners in crime, to identify key members of the gangs. However, the very success of the police drive against organised crime has had unforeseen consequences, the police say. After the arrest of most of the alleged gang leaders, rank and file Camorra mobsters have been left to their own devices and many have turned to robbery and hand-bag-snatching. “About 10 armed robberies are reported in Naples every day, but we fear that the real figure is much higher,” says Mr Monarca. As a result the police had had to adopt ingenious tactics to cope with the alarming upsurge in street crime. The armed robbers, who strike mostly at shopkeepers, have proved hard to catch, but the police had made progress against the Scippatori, as the handbagsnatchers are known, by striking at their favourite getaway vehicle — the motor scooter. “The Scippatori usually cruise around in pairs on a scooter. One of them drives while the other snatches. We decided that our best bet was to try to immobilise them,” says Mr Monarca. At the suggestion of the Prefect, the police have seized more than 3000 scooters and mo-peds over the last 18 months. “We confiscate scooters on the slightest pretext, but our main problem now is finding storage space for them,” says Mr Monarca. The police also say that Neapolitan shopkeepers are increasingly prepared to help investigators expose protection rackets. Minutolo Capece. president of the local retailers’

association, believes that as many as 80 per cent of shopkeepers in Naples are prey to extortionists, known collectively to Neapolitans as 11 Racket. Many shopkeepers are still reluctant to lodge formal complaints for fear of reprisals. However, the retailers’ association urges them to report extortionists informally to the police. Local authorities are aware that the war on crime will be futile unless efforts are made to cut unemployment in the city, officially estimated at 200,000 out of a total population of 1.2 million, and to improve services and day-to-day administration. To add to the city’s problems, people made homeless by an earthquake in 1980 are still housed in ramshackle accommodation. “In a democracy you cannot fight crime simply by using terror tactics,” says Mr Boccia. “The only answer to this city’s problems is efficient administration and a revival in the economy.” Mr Boccia was recently compelled to call in outside help to clear rubbish from the streets of Naples after the local refuse collection service ground to a halt. “Trying to estimate the number of potential criminals in Naples is like counting the drops of water gushing from a running tap,” he remarked with a sigh.