Modern Camorra Informant question

[Angelo Santino]

There are many on here better versed with modern events and times than I am. I'm looking up modern Camorra informants and I'm finding little detail/questions regarding what they describe as a hierarchy. Years back Saviano did an interview and made it sound like bloods and crips, he even stated that anyone could move to Naples and start a gang and that's Camorra. I'm very skeptic.

Can anyone point me in the right direction with sources?

[furiofromnaples]

Not exactly. There are clans like the Casalesi,the Alliance of Secondigliano and DiLauros that have a hierarchy and some clans that born splitting by other clans that are just dozen men with guns and nothing more.
The Camorra it's horizontal and without vertices because unlike the mafia it doesn't accept an organ above the single clan.
The problem is that the clans are fluid because every man with some influence can start a feud for the power.

[johnny_scootch]

The way I understand it there is no Camorra. Not in the historical sense, it’s just a meaningless label at this point.

[motorfab]

It seems that the Camorra as it was at the time of Enrico Alfano no longer exists.

I saw a documentary a long time ago where a policeman said that the Camorra in Naples was like a street gang while the Camorra in the other provinces of Campania was more like a criminal organization like Cosa Nostra or 'ndrangheta.

Regarding the Camorra, I'm mainly interested in the Nuova Camorrra Organizzata or some guys like Zaza or Bardellino or the Nuvolettas, but what this policeman said makes sense, because it seems that when Cutolo wanted to create the NCO, he was forced to go through 'ndrangheta members who passed the 'ndrangheta introductory rituals to him. In exchange, Cutolo arranged the murder of Domenico Tripodo and Cutolo was inducted directly into the rank of sgarrista. The fact that Cutolo was forced to deal with the Calabrians to have the induction ceremeony details speaks a lot IMO.

This caused problems with the other Camorra gangs who were forced to organize to deal with Cutolo. Their organization was also quickly shattered, which shows that the Camorra is not really structured/organized.

I'm not particularly a fan of Gomorra, apart the first 2 seasons, but I find that the series reflects well what the Camorra has become: a kind of street gang with fragile and precarious alliances.

[PolackTony]

It seems that the Camorra as it was at the time of Enrico Alfano no longer exists.

I saw a documentary a long time ago where a policeman said that the Camorra in Naples was like a street gang while the Camorra in the other provinces of Campania was more like a criminal organization like Cosa Nostra or 'ndrangheta.

Regarding the Camorra, I'm mainly interested in the Nuova Camorrra Organizzata or some guys like Zaza or Bardellino or the Nuvolettas, but what this policeman said makes sense, because it seems that when Cutolo wanted to create the NCO, he was forced to go through 'ndrangheta members who passed the 'ndrangheta introductory rituals to him. In exchange, Cutolo arranged the murder of Domenico Tripodo and Cutolo was inducted directly into the rank of sgarrista.

This caused problems with the other Camorra gangs who were forced to organize to deal with Cutolo. Their organization was also quickly shattered, which shows that the Camorra is not really structured/organized.

I'm not particularly a fan of Gomorra, apart the first 2 seasons, but I find that the series reflects well what the Camorra has become: a kind of street gang with fragile and precarious alliances.

Yeah, a big source of confusion, I think, has been the distinctions between the urban Camorra of Napoli itself, and the Camorra of the provinces. The story is that after Alfano was pinched in 1911, the urban Camorra met in 1915 and decided to disband the old “Bella Società Napolitana”, and that, from this time until after WW2, the urban Camorra devolved into local street corner guappi, who acted as the “big man” for their immediate little neighborhood, but without any formal organization either within or between these local Camorre.

My belief is that the rural Camorra of the provinces persisted, however. I wrote a bit recently about the Fascist offensive against the old Terra di Lavoro province of Campania in one of the Chicago threads. Terra di Lavoro was claimed to have had dozens of societies or organizations, with hundreds of affiliates, that were linked to each other and to other provinces, and ran widespread rackets such as loan sharking, extortion, prostitution, and armed robbery/trafficking of stolen goods. Another area identified as having heavy Camorra activity in this period was he part of Salerno province stretching from Castellammare di Stabia into the interior and then south to Salerno City (including towns like Angri, Pagnani, and Salerno). I doubt that it’s coincidence that many members of US LCN Families hailed from these same areas.

Now, I’m not sure what wound up happening with the provincial Camorra after the Fascist period, but presumably they persisted in some form despite the heavy state crackdown.

We know that after WW2, Naples was the center of the Allied government and reconstruction project in Italy. All of the imports of goods (and American cigarettes in particular) have the impetus for an increase in Camorra activity in the city. As the cigarette, and consequently heroin, smuggling racket took off, the Camorristi began making important connections with Cosa Nostra (as I’m sure you’re well aware). This was the “re-Mafiazation” of the Camorra, which eventually led to the formation of what (the state and press) called the “Nuova Famiglia”. Cutolo, who already supposedly had prison beef in the 60s with Antonio Spavone (who I’m sure you know of), an important elder in the alliance of clans that wound up forming the Nuova Famiglia (Spavone also had close connections with the Chicago and Genovese Families, and lived in Chicago where he had relatives, during the 70s), wound up resenting the rise of the Camorristi with these Cosa Nostra links. Supposedly for this reason, he was motivated to bring back what he thought of as the traditional Camorra. As you note, however, he did this by getting initiated into the ‘Ndrangheta in prison, and then forming the NCO. This was the other route to “re-Mafiazing” the Camorra.

After the bloody wars between the NCO and “NF” in the 80s, and the ensuing government crackdown, the accounts that I’ve seen state that the organized, structured Camorra again fell apart. It seems to have again fallen into being what I call a “degenerated mafia”. As Angelo noted, it’s unclear to what extent these accounts (like Saviano) have been based on inside sources from pentitti, but everything I’ve seen about the contemporary Camorra claims that it’s basically a loose, shifting, spectrum of local clans (who I’m not even sure mark membership in any formal way), who interact in various ways at the provincial or regional levels.

I’m unclear though to what extent this account applies strictly to the urban Camorra vs the provincial Camorra today.

[OmarSantista]

Thanks for the clear distinction between the NF and NCO Tony.
i Guappi 1974, from what I remember this film try's to capture the essence of the early camorra's rituals and traditionalistic symbolisms, it's been years so don't quote me but I thought it was interesting just from a film perspective
https://youtu.be/t7HF3phYo2A

[motorfab]

All hail to Franco Nero & Fabio Testi, excellent movie. Pasquale Squitieri made another movie about the Camorra in 1972 just before this one called ... Camorra (Gang War in Naples for the international title). Fabio Testi & Raymond Pellegrin (also in the casting of I Guappi) are the main characters of this one. On a cinephile note, I think Damiano Damiani's mafia films are much better than Squitieri's, but it's another debate.

But yes I agree, I Guappi captured very well the essence of the early Camorra.

[CabriniGreen]

Secondigliano Aliiance, Casalesi, Moccia, Zaza/Mazzarella, Nuvoletta/Polverino/Orlando (?), Imperiales arrest might have brought an end to the "Spaniard- seccestionist" clan, haven't looked into it recently. I think those are the main clan/families. They control vast swaths of territory.

These clans are ruled by families that intermarry. Like the Secondigliano people are led by 3...eh....4 main families: Contini, ( considered the strongest currently, I think they have never had an informer?) Mallardo, Bosti, and Licciardi. The Mallardo, Bosti, and Contini clan patriarchs are all married to 3 Aieta sisters, whom are all said to wield influence in the clan. The old woman, Maria Licciardi is still the boss I think.

The Nuvoletta, I'm not sure today, I got to look into it, but the Orlando and Polverinos were in command last I had heard. A global organized crime assessment said diverted agricultural subsidies from the EU, and the Canibus trade were the 2 biggest things in European OC in 2021. Superficially, since the Nuvolettas made their fortune swindling agricultural subsidies, and the Polverinos made theirs in hash, maybe 2021 was good for them? No clue actually.....


The Moccias are big in construction an public works corruption but any kind of hierarchy or leadership chart I've never seen.


Casalesi are I assume, basically the same clans, Iovine, Defalco, Bidogionetti (? I think I misspelled it) Schiavone, and Zagaria... they are pretty white collar. They tried to control produce markets with the Licciardi and Santapaolo families if I remember correct.

The Zaza/ Mazzarella are pretty local I think. I haven't seen anything connecting them to any big regional traffic, nothing like what Zaza was originally into, but this could be wrong.

As far as Rome, I can't keep up with who controls it today. Last I had read, I think the Nuvolettas were moving in... I dunno....

[CabriniGreen]

Also on Saviano, I believe he got famous not for what he said, but HOW he said it, because he said essentially "Fuck the Cammora" on a podium, in front of an audience, in the heart of Casale Di Principe. I think it's why his book got so popular.

[CabriniGreen]

There are many on here better versed with modern events and times than I am. I'm looking up modern Camorra informants and I'm finding little detail/questions regarding what they describe as a hierarchy. Years back Saviano did an interview and made it sound like bloods and crips, he even stated that anyone could move to Naples and start a gang and that's Camorra. I'm very skeptic.

Can anyone point me in the right direction with sources?

Here is the name of a Casalesi informant....Salvatore Venoso


https://www.corriere.it/english/18_apri ... f_amp.html

[CabriniGreen]

Hers something on Marano racketeering...


https://tg24.sky.it/cronaca/2022/07/08/ ... erdite/amp

[CabriniGreen]

An article on Moccia clan racketeering in Rome...

https://www.ilmattino.it/rubriche/crimi ... 74609.html

[Angelo Santino]

Thank you for posting these. They dont really go into the structure at all, the emphasis is more operational- gambling links between groups.

I need to talk to pentito because I'm not satisfied with what's being asked by him or what is being publicly released.

There are indications externally that point to the camorra having a structure but when focusing on that theres damned little released.

Thank you again.

[Strax]

Casalesi,Nuvolettas have a structure similar to Sicilian mafia and are very close to sicilian mafia , there are even cases of people being made both in Camorra and Sicilian mafia.

But Camorra is more like a union of street gangs, they are still very violent compared to other mafia groups in Italy. They send 15 year old to shoot you in the face in middle of street.

[scagghiuni]

the Camorra is a federation of clans with a horizontal structure, but they are not street gangs because they have political relationships and strongly influence the economy