THE CAMORRA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 81, 26 May 1911, Page 5

THE CAMORRA.

The more one reads of the Camorra the more doubtful does it appear Avhcther tiie proceedings at Vruirbo will “scotch” that infamous and extraordinary society. A correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle” says it is intenvovon Avitli the social and political life of Southern Italy. From the palace of the King doAvn to the beggar avlio has no roof for his head it lias its agents, and it does its Avork. There are aristocratic Camorrists, scions of good family, men avlio frequent fashionable restaurants, and live by theft and the blackmail of illegal establishments. But its great strength lies in the riff-raff, and especially the scum of Naples. That fair city is apparently a hotbed of vice, crime, and laziness. The Neapolitan can maintain life on a feAV ponce a day, and by joining the Camorra he can get this Avithout Avorking for it. The sAvarm of dirtylooking ruffians avlio cluster round tourists are said to be mostly members of the society. The begging trade is controlled by it. “Pitches” are allotted on the steps of churches and public buildings, and the society sees that no unauthorised beggars usurp these. The Camorra even instructs cripples in the best way to display their hideous deformities or their disgusting sores. The call-driv-er avlio takes the tourist to his hotel, and the boatman avlio takes him over to Capri, pay commission to the Camorra. According to this Avrjter, the sympathy of the masses is Avith tl\o Camorra. Naples is the centre of the evil, and the Neapolitan is by nature intensely vain and egotistical, and believes thoroughly in the doctrine of individual vengeance. He is suspicious of all constituted authority, and looks on police and Courts as his natural enemies. To appeal to the laAv to redress a Avrong is unmanly and undignified. The knife is the proper Aveapon. The Camorra Avill settle his disputes much more expeditiously and cheaply than the hiAV. Even the employer of laboiir employs the Camorra, because it is much the best agent for settling disputes. Kipling describes the Afghan as a thief, a liar, and a murderer, and frankly and bestially immoral, but he concedes that he has his crooked notions of honour. The same might be said of the Camorrist. He is not a criminal; he is crime itself. “To describe him as simply a vagabond, a thief, a pick-pocket, or a cut-throat, Avould be Avholly inadequate, for he is. all of those combined. By principle he is a theif, a pick-pocket, forger, and, if need be, an assassin. He organises robbery and clandestine gambling; he engages in illicit trading, usury, and the Avhite slave traffic. He is a receiver of stolon property, and Avill unblushingly cheat a burglar out of his ill-gottan gains.” vet his Avord of honor is rarely broken. It is considered the proper thing to use the knife in assassination and not the bullet. To stand tAventy paces off and kill a man Avit.li a revolver is coAvardly in the Camorrist code. The deed, to be honourable, must be doiye at close quarters Avith cold steel, presumably in order that the victim (in theory at any rate) may have a chance to defend himself. The Avriter declares that the Camorra can bo conquered only by the schoolmaster and never by the policeman. Fully 85 per cent of the scum of Naples are illiterates. Education is nominally compulsory, but no attempt is made to enforce this part of the luav in and around Naples. The youth of the district spend their lives out of doors, groAv up in semi-idleness, and consequently adopt a criminal career Avith alacrity. A feiv pence a day or a handful of macaroni keeps them contented. The Avritor thinks the Government could kill the society if they Avont about it in a determined Avay, but he declares, in spite of the present trial, that the Camorra rests on as solid a basis to-day as at any period of its existence. The Government “threatens, becomes angry, passes restrictive edicts Avhich are put in force, but the threatened blow is always averted by some mysterious and often highly-placed protection.” Men are arrested for an atrocious crime; there is a considerable stir; a lengthy Magisterial examination takes place; then, Avhen the excitement liloavs over, the affair is hushed up and the men are released, to become heroes in the eyes of the public. This time, lioavover; proceedings have got so far as a trial, and in vieiv of the revelations that are being made about the operations of this Teague of infamy the result will be aivaited Avith great interest.