ITALY'S TERRIBLE CAMORRA

Grey River Argus, 12 May 1911, Page 7

ITALY'S TERRIBLE CAMORRA

A SYNDICATE OF CRIME.

SECRET SOCIETY WHOSE MOTTO IS MURDER. All the elements of the blood-stain-ed romance of Italian mediaevalism , are present in the trial vhidi recently opened at Viter.bo, the oistoric town at which ithe famous. Conclave of the thirteenth century deliberated through three years of intrigue and murder on the selection of a Pope. At last the dreadful Neapolitan Camorra is in the grip of the taw. Incarceraited in the ancient monastery of 'Gradi are forty-one men said to be connected in one way or the other with this gang of ruffians and assassins whose reign of terror has i ot been confined to Southern Tt.-)v ajone. They include Erricone, "-heir cfief since 1893, and all his principal -:oi ndllors. It was a foul double murder in 1906 which caused the Italian iolke. authorities to wage a relentless war upon these pariahs of civilisation. Cuocolo, a leading Camorrist, srd his wife were done to death in a fcru'tal fashion, and it is i'or co»n;j!ic•ity in this crime, which levives in dramatic 'form the sinster sign of "S," that the prisoners will stf.nd their trial. The trial is expected to effectually rid Naples of the Camorra — a notorious secret society whose black achievements have survived the age 'of poison cup and stiletto. Forty-one Camorrists will foe in tne dock, and Pulblic Prosecutor. The specific crime for which the whole dread organisation is called to account was a double murdefr committed on June 6, 1906. Gennaro Cuocolo, a man of rather evil repute [ and Ms wife, styled "The Beautiful I Sorrnetina," were stabbed to death the* same night. The man's bodywas found at Torr del Greco, a sea- ; =;ide suburb of Naples, while nis wife was slaughtered in her bed at their home in the centre of .the city. 'Cuocolo's . .body was found on the morning after the murder at a spot called Cupa Calastro, a narrow gap •between two walls of lava rocks, front ing the Bay of Naples. His head had been (battered in :by some heavy weapon, while his ibody was a mass of wounds. Thirty-two were counted, and, medical examination revealed that three different types of weapon had 'been used. Some of the wounds were itniangular, siignificant" of the Camorra. From the fact that the dancing pumps of the murdered man had no trace of the Vesuvfan ash which covered the approaches to .this sr-oi, it was surmised that the murder had been committed elsewhere and the •body ;brought to th3s little frequented place. A sharp' kitchen knife held in Cuocolo's nerveless grasp was presumed to have ibeen put there to blind the discoverers and make them think that the dead man was thei victim of some not unusual vendetta. The fact that Cuocolo! was a very stout man also led to the assumption that a nuimber of ipeople had ibeen concerned in the crime. BEAUTY OF THE PEOPLE. The body was identified 'by Cavaliere Cuocolo, an uncle and a rich tanner. The Cavaliere .vaid r e had thought Gennaro would come by a bad end. "Ever since his boyhood he had given himself up to light loves and I bad companions," he said. Hi's father 'died of a broken heart. Gennaro soon dissipated his large fortune, and almost ruined his younger brother. He was sent away on an allowance of £12 , which should have enabled him •to live decently, ' ibut he continued to follow his evil ways, to the point of marrying a woman of doubtful character, Marie Cutinelli, who was a ■beauty of tha people, called "The Beautiful Sorrentina," as she came from Sorrento." (Both husband and wife were about forty-two, said the Cavaliere, who gave the police Gennaro's address in the Via. Nardones, just near the Roy;.al Palace of Naples. The police hurried to the flat, could get no answer, and forced the door, entering an apartment which might have been furnished for a bride. In the :bedroom a ghastly discovery was /made. "The (Beautiful Sorrentina," clothed only in a pink silk nightgown, lay upon the t>pd m a Jake of Wood. She was quite dead, lier ibody ibeintr covered with wounds and 'bruises. The wounds were of the. triangular character inflicted Iby the tremenclous dagger used by the Cam,orrists. The scarlet sign of the "S" revealed -that there could be no doubt that the unhappy woman had met a terrible death at the hands of the Camorra. ' •'■ - The "Sfregio" is the mark of contempt inflicted £>y the. avenging Camiorrists on one who ris -belteyed to be - a spy or a traitor, or who has ibroken the rules of. the society. If tne victim is a woman of spotless virtue the slash is inflicted on the cheek; otherwise, as in the case of Cuocolo's wife, on the aib'domen. Enrico Alfani has ibeen head of all the sections of the Camorra of Nappies since the death of Oicdo Cappuccio, the most famous of their heads, in 1893. Alfani was then only twenty, but he reorganised the Camorra, calling it the "Bella Suggieta Reformata" (Beautiful Reformed Society.) The exercised control over the horse market, all public sales, the Bands of smugglers infesting the environs of the town, and the dockers. Tt also "protected" the bands of.. th<eves which, in exchange, had to. pay large tribute, qonsisjting. in 'a percentage varying from 10 to 30 per cent .of the value .of their loot. Err.icone, from 'being simply a toy in a flower shop, rose to opening a shop of hfe -own, where he sold bran and fodder for horses. He then, became a cattle dealer on a large scale and 'finally a. money-lender. To those, of: his clients who mentioned the Ca^-

morra he laughed gently, saying, "Do ! you really Ibelieve there is such a ,' thing-! Why, those axe stories of \ other times!" I In 1905 he retired nominally from the chieftainship of the Camorra, 'but still kept control over the society's misdoings in the Vicaria, the ■most disorderly quarter of Naples. Often he came into conflict wish the authorities for some part ii a burglary or jewel theft, or for his dealings in connection with the <:lave traf-. fie, but he was able to save hi fir self from anything- worse than a fine by his control over the' municipal officers. In many cases they had been elected on the strength of his corrupt influence over the electorate. - Cuocolo limited his activites as a Camorrist to organising- .thefts and taking- the ] ion's shares of the proceeds. On some occasions, as shown by papers in the police archives, he and his wife denounced certain criminals affiliated to the Camorra who were planning some raid. It was established that on the night of the crime Erricone was dining at an /inn not more than a hundred yards away from the Cupa Calas '-o. With fiim were his brother, Ciro Alfanl "(who has died an gaol si'nee), Ibello, head of the Camorra in the ■suibunbs of Naples, a»nd Rapi, nick- , named "The Teacher," 'because he had taught in the municipal schools of Naples, and in his old aire v/as known as the keeper of a gambling hell and receiver of stolen goods, especially of jewels, and stocks and loonds, which he took to Paris to sell. These three men were accompanied by tlie sisters Esposito. When Erricone and his^ companions were liberated on the plea of want of evidence, the indignation was intense. It was said once again the fear of the Camorra or their bribes had corrupted the magistrates. -The police were accused of sharing the Camorrists' ' spoils. ■ In fact, the release of Erricone and his gang was due to the effect wrougrht upon the magistrates iby the dramatic avowal of a- priest. Father Giro Vitozzi. The priest was Erricone' s .godfather, and he made the fol lowing- solemn pronouncement .before the court: — "I swear in my sacerdotal character, (before the Holy Crucifix, that you gentlemen are committ3hg an ict of the greatest injustice being ' about to condemn those who are :nnc7v.ent. I know- the real murderers, Taut I cannot reveal their names, as they came to, me with the seal of the confession."