AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143839, 13 July 1912, Page 4

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

TRIAL LASTS SIXTEEN MONTHS.

On the morning of June 3, 1906, in Naples, a servant, girl, who slept at her own home, rang as usual the bell of her mistress's apartment, which was not answered. This, however, caused her no surprise, as when her master and his wife, Gennaro and Maria Cutinelli Cuocolo, had been out late at night they often overslept the next morning. ' She , returned later, and, silence following her efforts, became alarmed, and called the police, who broke in and found Signora Cuocolo dead in her bedroom, her body bearing dozens of knife wounds.

Her jewellery was missing, and apparently it was a ' vulgar crime for gain. And " the woman’s husband, where was he?. Had’he murdered her after a quarrel arid escaped ? That question was answered within the hour, when news came that a man had been discovered in a lonely street at Torre del Greco, on the outskirts of Naples, with forty knife wounds, in ' his' body, and that he had been identified as Gennaro Cuocolo.

Cuocolo was a vigorous man of about forty, with chestnut hair and light moustache, and always elegantly dressed. 'At the time of his death he was clothed in a dark blue suit, had rose-coloured silk underclothing, and black silk socks. The only thing found in his pockets’’was a silver watch, a penny, and a handkerchief! In his hand he clutched a common table knife, evidently placed there after-death. He belonged to a wealthy family, his father being ,a leather merchant, but he from a youth showed , a disposition towards the unhealthy, sides ! of life. Ho went from bad to worse, and one night, meeting Maria Cutinelli, unconsciously signed his death warrant,’both morally and physically. .This was all that was known at the time,, but erien then it was suspected that the Camorra, the notorious secret society of Naples, had had a hand in the tragedy. But it took four years and a half to work up, a case—that story is in itself a remarkable one—and at length, in March last yean over-thirty persons were placed on trial at Viterbo, near Rome, charged with complicity in the crime. The accused were placed ,in a huge cage, for their own protection, and an informer, named Abbatemaggio, was also given a cage. There were about 600 witnesses, and the counsel for the defence numbered 32.

Both ,;the victims and the persons who are accused of compassing their death (wrote a correspondent last year) wero typical figures of the existing Camorra of Naples, which, though greatly , fallen away from its old importance, still exercises a very considerable influence in Neapolitan life, especially among, the lower classes, A proof of this is afforded in the extraordinary difficulty which the authorities have experienced in getting evidence for a crime of which the truq history must have been known to thousands of people. Again, there is- the strange story of the antagonistic parts played by the two different branches of the police service. The Neapol tan police, to which the first inquiries fell, seem fo have throughout abandoned obvious clues in favour of false information .supplied by the Camorra itself; not only, that, but when the Carabinieri. ..determined to strike a decisive blow at the Camorra, followed the real track with laudable energy, their conduct of the case was apparently wilfully hampered and interfered with by the colleagues of the other service. When, finally, the case seomed complete, and it was proposed to bring the accused to trial, it was found im- , possible to hold that trial in Naples, since neither juries nor witnesses could be depended upon in an environment still dominated by the Camorra. The case was first transferred to Rome, but owing, it is said, to the want of suitable accommodation in the new Palace of Justice, it was finally transferred to Viterbo, distant some two hours by rail north of Rome, where there could be no doubt of a fair trial. A 1 CRIME OF REVENGE. The story of the crime is otherwise simple enough, if'one can trust the evidence given by the informer, a'certain Abbatemaggio, himself on© of the accused and a Camorrista. On June 5, 1906, the body, of Cennaro Cuocolo was found, on the seashore near Torre del .Greco, bearing the marks of thirty-nine wounds inflicted with stabbing instruments, besides other bruises. The same day. the.body of his. wife, Maria, was found, in their house in the Via-Nar-dones, also stabbed to death, with at least fourteen wounds. The room .had been rifled and a watch and some jewellery were missing, hut it was Evident from the ferocity of the rdoubie crime that revenge,- and not robbery, was the motive, . Gennaro Cuocolo was known as a receiver of stolen goods, his wife was formerly a procuress, and the couple enjoyed the respect and consideration of their neighbours as quiet, well-to-do people, not without influence in Camorra circles. The police begun their inquiry, and reported at. once ; that the murder was the .. result oi a ; Camorra quarrel, naming four men as chiefly ( implicated, three of, whom are now among the number standing their trial. But these men were not then ■ arrested, and, for some unexplained reason, the police abandoned the trail, and, acting on evidence supplied by the Camorra itself, arrested two former convicts, who were-proved to have nothing to do with the matter. Under > the .guidance of Don Giro Vittozzi, the pursuit soon plunged deep into a tortu- ( ous maze of perjury, and strayed fat from the real culprits. Then the Carabinieri took up the running .on ;the original scent, and, in spite of every obstacle put in their way, carried it through to the end. . According to the evidence, upon which the prosecution relies, the story is as follows:—On May 26. 1906, a meeting of Camorristi was held at a*trattona in Bagnoli, at which were present .many leaders of the Camorra. Before this tribunal on© of Enrico Alfano, better known as ErncOne, denounced the Cuocolps for the betrayal of a comrade, Arena, who was suffering penal servitude in consequence. The tribunal decided that Cuocolo deserved death, and that his wife had better be suppressed also, as, sharing her husband’s secrets, she knew too much. A certain Nioolo Morra was told off to make the necessary arrangements. As the result of these, Cuocolo was enticed from his house to a spot on the seashore near Torre del Groco, where he was assailed by Morra and three others —di Genuaro, Sortino, and Cerrato —with weapons /which correspond to the wounds on the body. The four jumped into a hired carriage, which they had kept waiting, and galloped back to

Naples. Here Sortino left the others, and, accompanied by another man, Salvi by .name, went to the Cuocolos’ house in .the Via Nardones, where they murdered the wife, whom they found in bed. THE CAMORRA. The Camorra, the “union of disputatious persons,” is a secret society which for many years dominated Naples. Originally, so far as can he traced, a league of prisoners, formed for good fellowship and mutual aid, it gradually spread through many branches of Neapolitan society. There was a grand master, whose name no one was supposed to know, and a court of judges, picked from the twelve branches of the league.. Each branch was composed of a number of semiindependent : groups, politicians, blackmailers, smugglers, or thieves. , The judges met in secret and sentenced in secret. Those who refused them obedience died, as a long list of unpunished murders testified. The old Camorristi were helped, criminals in its ranks mysteriously escaped punishment, and respectable citizens submitted to its, blackmail rather than fight.it. It hung like a shadow over Naples. . "With t'he coming of, popular suffrage the -Camorra. found a wider field. It entered local politics, and carried all before ’ it. Shady contractors became its allies, and the local administration of Nappies,-under Camorra influences became notorious throughout Italy, Affairs'reached such a pass that the Government appointed aj Royal Commission of Inquiry,-and toe report presented to the Minister of the Interior in 1901 by. Senator Sardello bore out the. worst that Jmd been feared. For a time the political influence of the Camorra .‘was cheeked. The Cuocolo case gave the .authorities a chance for which they; bad been waiting, and the trial has been quite as much a political as a criminal investigation. . , - :