Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Camorra
Known locally as Il Sistema (The System), Naples' Camorra crime syndicate is Italy's
largest. It trafficks drugs, dumps toxic waste, stifles regional development through kick-
backs, and makes a bundle along the way. In the past 30 years, the Camorra has claimed
more than 3000 lives, more than any other Mafia in the country.
Origins
It is widely believed that the Camorra emerged from the crimin-
al gangs operating among the poor in late-18th-century Naples.
The organisation would get its first big break after the failed re-
volution of 1848. Desperate to overthrow Ferdinand II, pro-con-
stitutional liberals turned to
camorristi
(members of the Neapol-
itan mafia) to help garner the support of the masses. The
Camorra's political influence was sealed. Given a serious blow
by Mussolini, the organisation would get its second wind from
the invading Allied forces of 1943, which turned to the flourish-
ing underworld as the best way to get things done.
The Camorra on
Screen
»
Gomorra
(Matteo Gar-
rone; 2009)
»
Il camorrista
(The
Camorrista; Giuseppe Tor-
natore; 1986)
»
Mi manda Picone
(Picone
Sent Me; Nanni Loy; 1983)
The Value of Vice
Today Italy's Mafia organisations mean serious business: the Camorra's annual profit alone
is estimated at €19 billion. This is a far cry from the days of roguish characters bullying
shopkeepers into paying the
pizzo
(protection money). As journalist Roberto Saviano writes
in his Camorra exposé
Gomorra
: 'Only beggar Camorra clans inept at business and des-
perate to survive still practice the kind of monthly extortions seen in Nanni Loy's film
Mi
manda Picone
'. While small-time extortion still exists, the Mafia big guns are where the
serious bucks lie, from the production and sale of counterfeit goods to the construction and
waste disposal industries.
One of the Camorra's biggest money spinners
is the drug trade. Indeed, the Camorra-ravaged
suburbs of Secondigliano and Scampia in north-
ern Naples have the dubious claim of being
Europe's largest open-air drug market, supply-
ing addicts from across the country with cheap,
low-grade heroin and cocaine. Needless to say,
The Greater Naples region is home to over
100 Camorra clans, with an estimated 10,000
immediate associates, and an even larger num-
ber of clients, dependents and supporters.
