Brief History of Camorra Mafia Organization (Part Three)
THE RISE OF “CAMORRA DI IMPRESA”
The 80s were not signed only by the war between NCO and Nuova Famiglia, but even by the rise of one of the most prime and durable businesses of Camorra: the public procurements. Indeed, in 1980, an intense earthquake hit the South of Italy causing approximately 280,000 displaced people, 8,848 injuries, and, according to the most reliable estimates, 2,914 victims. Consequently, the government allocated a huge amount of money to rebuild the destroyed cities. For this reason, Camorra families started to impose bribes and participate in public procurements in order to have access to the money. The enlargement of Camorra’s business not only increased its income but it strengthened its relationships with corrupted politicians willing to do anything for money and votes. A new “Camorra di impresa” (corporate Camorra) was born. Anyway, the increase in the flow of money and the defeat of Cutolo in 1983 caused a new war among the three most powerful families of Nuova Famiglia — Alfieri and Bardellino against Nuvoletta — who wanted to take Cutolo’s power. The war lasted until the 90s when Bardellino’s family succeeded in imposing on other groups.
As it happened before Cuocolo’s trial, the great expansion of Camorra can be traced back to the structural weakness of the South Italy civil society. Firstly, Camorra — and Mafia groups in general — gained strength and legitimacy from the different forms of widespread illegal management of power predominantly exercised in the South. Indeed, the decentralized control of huge amounts of money allocated for the reconstruction provoked the rise of the new figure of “politico-mediatore” (intermediary politician): people in charge of controlling public procurements who were easy to manipulate. In the nineteenth century, Camorristi used to offer their services to politicians, now the politicians ask for Camorra’s services.
Secondly, the modernization of Southern regions was based on weak industrial development and the absence of a social capital which provoked the rise of a civil society not based on solidarity and trust feelings but on the protection-subjugation combination. The lack of services, the high unemployment, and the politicians’ incapability of facing South problems — or just in a few words: the absence of the state — led the population to advocate for their interests creating a less cohesive society. All these features create a favorable development for the foundation and expansion of organized crime groups.
CAMORRA BETWEEN THE TWO CENTURIES
During the 90s-2000s period, Camorra truly changed its face. After the families strengthened their relationships with South American gangs, Camorra’s groups focused more and more on creating firms in order to participate in public procurements. Contemporary, the increase in income provoked new tensions among families which led to several wars in Naples and across the whole Campania region. Moreover, after the assassination of several politicians, judges, and other public figures by Cosa Nostra, the Italian government adopted innovative instruments to tackle the Mafia phenomenon. Firstly, two institutional bodies were created: “Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia” (anti-Mafia district division) and “Direzione Investigativa Antimafia” (Anti-Mafia Investigation Division) both founded in 1991 to investigate and coordinate anti-Mafia operations. Considering the legal provisions, in 1986 it was adopted the “Gozzini Law” (Law n° 663/86) which provided for a particular prison regime for extremely dangerous people including Mafia members (Article 41-bis). More specifically, the system intended to cut inmates off completely from the outside and to separate them from other prisoners. Measures included bans on:
- The use of the telephone;
- All association or correspondence with other prisoners;
- Meetings with third parties;
- Receiving or sending sums of money over a set amount;
- Receiving parcels (other than those containing linen) from the outside;
- Organizing cultural, recreational, or sporting activities;
- Voting or standing in elections for prisoner representatives; and
- Taking part in arts-and-crafts activities, etc.,
The hardness of the regime and the adoption of Law n° 82/91 — which gave the chance to avoid the 41-bis regime in case of collaboration between the Mafia members with the police — pushed several criminals to betray their fellows leading to the dissolution of several families.
CONCLUSION
It must be highlighted that even if the Italian government succeeded in defeating part of the Camorra groups, many of them managed to survive and expand to new businesses such as counterfeiting, the building sector, and the waste disposal field. South of Italy is still one of the poorest regions in Europe and the Camorra’s groups still have the (forced or voluntary) support of part of the population which has been abandoned by a state that never really tried to change the fate of this territory. Arresting Mafia members is a good start but in order to disrupt such a rooted phenomenon it must change people’s mentality. Mafia gets its power from people’s resignations who never could choose between legal and illegal, state or mafia, common or individual interest. The efforts of the politicians should be focused on improving the life conditions of southern people. Only by showing them that there is a state that cares about them, they will choose the legality sphere leading to a process of real improvement. Otherwise, the remaining path will be the Devil and with the Devil, there is only one destination: the Hell.
The main source of the article is the book “Storia della Camorra” by Francesco Barbagallo (2010).
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