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TITE OMAIIA SUNDAY BEE: JULY 14, 1907.
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War is Declared on the Aost Powerful of Italian Criminal
MB, July 1S.A double murder fas
committed near Naples ft. little
nu-re than a year ago. A man
named Cuocolo wan enticed to
Torr dl Qreco and there slabbed
to death. His body wag found on the beach
the next morning- covered with the charac
teristic stabs or gashes of the Camorra
execution.
On the same dajr Cnucolo's wife waa
found dead, stabbed In the aame way aa her
liuaband, In her house at Naplea. It waa
ascertained that the two murders took
place Rlmuttaneo'tsly, and as tmth husband
and wife met their death In the aame man
ner and aa thlr money and Jewelry were
tyt untouched as a sign that theft waa not
e moT.ive 01 ine crime, ine conclusion waa
rawn that the crime was an execution of
the Csmorra.
Neapolitans, young and old, hurried to
the lottery shops where they asked for the
numbers corresponding to the words, hus
band, wife, murder, vendetta and Camorra,
and they staked all the money they could
afford on these five numbers for the next
drawing- of the lotto. The Cuocolo murder
waa, after all, nothing; but an ordinary
fatto dl sangue. an event of blood, quite a
common occurrenoe.
(Fatto dl sangue la a. most comprehensive
expression, not only In the Neapolitan dia
lect but also In the Italian language. It
means anything from a trifling knife stab
. to a murder, provided the Injury hae been
caused by violence.
If a crowd gathers In the streets around
fallen cab horse or a stabbed man, and a
Curious person on Its outskirts asks another
what la the matter, the reply la given with
equal difference In both casea. Tou are
told that a horse has slipped or that It la
only a fatto dl aangue, but you cannot guess
aa much from the largeness or smallnesa
of the crowd.
Fatl dl sangue are common In Italy,
and especially ao at Naples. Whether they
are due to the Camorra or not does not
make the least clIfTererce. save as regards
the choice of the numbers for the lotto.
Consequently the local papers described the
double murder and ended their accounts
with the usual formula that the police were
Investigating the case. Nobody doubted
that the case would In a few duya be en
tirely forgotten.
In fact, after a while the police dropped
It altogether. Some arrests were made,
u la true. A party of young men and some
women of bad repute happened to go to
Torre del Qreco for a picnic on the dny of
the murder. By a mere coincidence, ac
cording to the police theory, they happened
to be all more or leas connected with the
Camorra.
They were therefor arrested, prohably
owing to a mistake of an ovenealous and
new police official, but they all proved an
alibi and the Investigating Judge released
them, as he was expected to do. The case
of the Cuocolo double murder waa then
entirely dropped..
The organization of the police system
In Italy Is very complicated. The entire
police force Is divided Into three separata
bodies, each Independent of the others,
and under different chiefs.
The civil police are known aa the public
security police and are under the direct
orders of the home office, or ministry of
the Interior, which la represented In large
cltlea by a chief of police known aa the
quoestor. The duty of the public se
curity police la the prevention and detec
tion of crime.
y In thla they are helped by the cara
Pj blnlerl. or gendarmes, who are practically
V, - , .. , w I.. thjtrafnm soldiers, not
(si
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W JLjiTfc
Special uuujr
They are well trained ana
. yageous. The anomuiy '
T"' . . . v. t K-v an, soldiers
they ape under the orders of the military
commander In chief, but at the aame tjme
they, too, depend on the mlniatry of the
Interior and therefore on lta representa
tive, the quoeator.
They are aupposed to act with the civil
police, but being highly efficient they often
act Independently -nd are often successful
when the police fall.
Beside the civil police and the cara
blnleri. each eJty has Ha own special police
men, or munclpal guards, under the order
of the mayor. The direct consequence of
so complicated a police system Is Jealousy
among the three different bodies. The civil
policemen are always striving to gC ahead
of the carablnleri. while the municipal
guards manage to get In the way of both
policemen and carablnleri, and. Instead of
helping or co-operating, generally aucoeed
t In hampe-rtng their work.
k In practice the carablnleri are the only
f efficient policemen In Italy, and, aa a oon
" sequence, to them falls all the heavy work.
They are detailed to capture brigand 01
runaway convicts In Calabria. Blolly and
Sardinia. Recently a nonoommtoaloned of
ficer of carablnleri waa decorated per
sonally by the king with the gold medal
of valor for having captured during his
twenty years of service In Sardinia more
than thltty brigands. In roost oases single
handed. Thla man had fourvhores shot under him.
He waa wounded seriously on several occa
sions, he saved the llfs t two of his
officers at the risk of bis own and his body
was covered with scars from stabs and
knife wounds. His pay Is less than $1 a
day.
The carablnleri quell revolts, disperse
crowds of strikers, arrest anarchists, guard
. the railway lines when the king travels,
f follow his carriage on bicycles when he
" drives and patrol the country road on
horseback and the city streets on foot,
night and day. One see them helping
firemen In putting out Are, rescuing a
person from drowning and showing the
way to lost tourist. The carablnleri are
amon- the beet soldiers and polloemen,
but the worst, paid and most modest men
In the world.
When the Naples olvll polloe dropped the
Cuooolo murder cae the ministry of th
Interior decided that an effort ahould be
made to capture the criminal and detailed
a party of carablnleri under a captain to
take up the Investigation where the police
had left It off. The quoester of Naples was
dismissed, several police officials were re
moved from Naples and a Judge who or
tered the release of several persons us
tpeoted of having assisted In the murder of
Cuocolo ana jus wire w .
Th ground thu being cleared, the cara
blnleri began their work, not where the
police left It off, however, bnt at the very
beginning. The work allotted to these ten
men turned out to be dlffloulu dangerous
and unusual In the annals of police msiory.
It is still going on.
Vf The prisons of Naples ara crowded with
vln-.lnal charged with complicity In the
aiurder of Cuooolo and his wlfs and with
other crime. lnnumerbl and unmentlon
tble. that have been committed In Naples
In the last fifty years. Ten modest soldier
o linemen have waged war against the
most powerful and best organised criminal
association In th world, a society more
than seven centuries old. whose headquar
ter have always been In Naples, but whose
ram mentions have Invaded the entire
world.
If the Camorra is doomed to disappear
It will die a hard death and not, without a
great struggle. In fact, although th oblef
of the Camorra have prsotloally all been
arreeted. the criminal organisation exists)
till, as was shown th other day oTirlng
the tramway sink In Naples, when th
whole garrison had to be called out la or
der to quell a street riot wthoh, owing to
ta aclivs pxUclUoa pt tl la4srlss
Camorristl, almost developed Into a revo
lution. The origin of the Camorra Is said to be
Spanish, and the camorristl of today are
supposed to be the descendants of a special
class of Spanish brigands known as ga
murrl, from gamurra, a short coat or pea
Jacket which they wore. These gamurrl
were ordinary highway robbers, but they
were united together under a sort of mili
tary rule. They had special laws and cus
toms, and, like their Neapolitan descend
ants, very often they were In league with
the police.
Living In an eg of chivalry, the Span
lah bandits were occasionally Just and gen
erous, two attrlbutea which entirely disap
peared when the association developed In
Italy under the Spanish domination. In
fact, a Spanish historian of the gamurrl,
writing about the Itlalan or rather Neapoli
tan ramification, remarks that the Institu
tion degenerated In a revolting manner.
The t'amorra In Naples retained only the
complicated organization, the disciplined
and formal rule and the secrecy of Its
Spanish prototype, but In all other respects
It changed altogether and became nothing
else than a gang of thieves, hardened In
all sort of crime, brutal and corrupt. Tbs
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IS
IteMER. WHO HAS
Camorra or Honorable Society uch is lta
official name waa tolerated by the Bour
bons and helped the police in times of
revolution. Hence it attained such an
ascendancy and developed to such an ex
tent that today It Is considered one of the
national Institutions of Naples and south
ern Italy.
The Camorra has been defined as the
parasite of the social organization of Na
ples, which owing to the great excess of
population as compared with the available
means of subsistence Is In a permanent
n.V
tate of demoralization. The Camorra la
divided Into two classes, known as the alta,
or high, and bassa, or low, Camorra. To
the former belong the high chief of the
Honorable Society, known ns caplntesta, or
head chief, the twelve chiefs who preside
over the twelve districts of Naples, known
as caplntrltl, and the camorristl, or full
members of the association.
To the latter belong the glovlnottl ono
ratl, or honored lads, the recruits, and the
plccluottl, a th glovlnottl are called after
being Initiated. The glovlnottl are gener
ally boys, beggars and pickpockets, who
aspire to belong: to the society.
Tl first step In this direction Is a sort
of examination held by one of the district
chiefs. II the candidal l round to promise
well he Is admitted on trial and an al-
most Imperceptible line Is tattooed on a
visible part of his body. This denotes his
rank.
The glovlnotto la then expected to give
a proof of his courage by performing what
la known among the society as a bravura,
or act of honor. This generally consists in
stabbing a policeman or carablnlere, or
Capital of Barbary
(Copyright, !9W, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
T 1RTPOLI. July 11. (Special Corre
spondence of The Bee.) I write
these notes In the city of Tripoli.
It Is the capital of Barbary, that
vast country of oases and desert,
lying between Tunisia and Egypt, on tho
Mediterranean sea. I came here from
Sfax, passing around the Ouf of Gabes and
skirting the Desert of Libya the greater
part of the way. Our boat was a little
Italian steamer which sails from Genoa to
Tunis and then goes on around to Tripoli
and back to Naples via Sicily and Malta.
We came to anchor in the harbor this
morning and were brought to the shore
by boatmen as fierce looking; a the pirate
who fought her against our American
sailors 100 years ago.
It was In the harbor of Tripoli that Unole
Sam had hi first great naval engagement,
after the conoluaton of tb war which made
him Independent of Great Brttan. This
town was then a great plratloal stronghold.
It levied Its tribute oa all the ships of the
Mediterranean, and its soldiers not Infre
quently captured Christians and- either held
them for ransom or kept them In slavery.
They had committed outragree upon our
shipping during the last days of John
Adams presidency, and It was In 1A01 that
we formally declared war and sent Commo
dore Decatur aoroaa th Atlantio and over
the Mediterranean to punish th pirates,
Decatur recaptured and burnt the Ames
lean frigate Philadelphia in the harbor her
In February, 1901 and we then taught the
sml-avave that, although they might
take their toll from the nations of Europe,
our own little republic across th Atlantio
niuat b left alone.
It BeloBsra to tho altavai.
Trda land of Barbary now belong to tha
sultan of Turkey. It has a governor fen
ral appointed by htm, and there Is aa
army of U.ono soldiers in the barracks oa
th dg of the city which he ha sent to
keep order. The country 1 o large that
th army nan polloe lltti more than Tripoli
Its If. and th result la that every man who
goe Into th desert carries a run with htm,
snd that all th caravan must hav their
armed escort. Nearly everyone who
come In from th Interior has a f i
strapped to his back. During a Journey
which I have made to en of th oases, I
mat many man so rrmed, and I am to 14
that th country I everywhere nnaaf.
Tripoli I for th most part nothing butf
sand. It la as long as from New York U
Detroit, as wld a from Philadelphia to
Buffalo, and It contain altogether an
area ten time that of th state of Ohio,
Th only cnKtTeted portions are a marrow
Ulfi of toad figem Un it sdltarrtAsaa ",
executing some slight set of revenge, or,
vendetts-llke, slashing the face of an
enemy with a rasor. After this he be
comes a picciUKtto, and ovar the line a dot
Is tattooed.
Tl.e rlovlnottl and plccluottl are the rank
and file of of the Camorra, and, naturally,
sr? very numerous. They' do all the dirty
work and most of the slabbing- falls to
their share.
Very often they are arrested and sen
tenced to a term of Imprisonment or a fine.
The latter Is paid by the Camorra and In
the former case they are kept at the
expense of the society, and nosooner do
they come out of prison than they aro
promoted to camorristl.
The t'amorra keeps watch on all the
Crimea that are committed at Naples; of
every theft that Is committed part of the
spoil, a regular percent are fixed by a
tariff, goes to the Camorra. A tax: I
levied on every house of bad repute, every
wine shop, every pcrscn who lends money
at usury, whether he belongs to the society
or not.
All the cabs that como Into Naples from
the neighboring villages pay a soldo la
cent) to the Cnmorra. Every farmer who
brings his produce tc market has to pay
the Camorra. No furmer refuse to pay;
TO J34Y TAXZXS TO THF. CAMOKRA.
If one does, either one of his horses Is
killed or he hlmxclf sut'tora sumo damage.
If complaint Is made to the police by
victims of the Camorra, for the first
offeiiRe they suffer u sfreglo (a disfigure
ment, generally on the face by means of
a slash with a razor), and a second de
nunciation may lead to their death.
When a plccluotto lias served a certain
term as such and worked well he. Is ad
mitted to the hle'i class of the Camorra.
But first he has to pass an examination
which Is held by the district chief and
several camorristl, one of whom acts in
the capacity of sponsor, or compare, of
the- piccluotto.
Several questions are put to the candi
date, which have to be answered to the
full satisfaction of the examining board.
When this Interrogatory is over the chief
asks:
"What do you seek now?" to which the
candidate has to reply:
"My companions."
"Who are your companions?"
"The camorristl."
"What does camorrlsta mean?"
"A man of courage who commands the
low society and stands with one foot on the
ground and the other In the gTave."
The piccluotto then takes the oath of
.ecrecy and in fifteen days time, durln
which he has to show his courage bravura
either In a duel or In performing more
stabblne, he Is definitely admlt'cd in the
ranks of the camorristl. He Is kissed anil
embraced by all his comrades and a great
dinner Is given In his honr, another dot Is
added to the line tattooed on his body and
He Is allowed to marry if he chooses. Glo-
vlnottl and plccluottl have not this prlvll-'
end the oases, which are found scattered
here and there through the d-j;er of
Ubya. The population Is scanty. H num
bers altogether not more than l.O'O.OnO, or
about half a many as then? are in Clii-cag-o,
and these are made up of wild Arab
tribes, many of which are at war with
each other.
e
Tripoli and the Soudan.
The foreign trade of the country Is with
the Soudan and Europe. Tripoli lie di
rectly north of I-ake Chad, and It is the
chief starting place for the caravans which
cross the Sahara. There are half a dozen
route over the desert from here to the
rich lands of central Africa, and a great
deal of Ivory, ostrich feathers and shins
are brought to Tripoli on camels from
those countries. The trip takes several
months snd the caravans often include In
their freight female slaves for the Bar
bary harems. Millions of slaves have been
thus carried over the desert and vast
numbers have been sent from here to
Tunisia and Turkey. The caravan routes
are lined with the bones of slaves who
hav cUutl ou tha way, uul U-o u.id wouU
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eg-e
The district
chief are elected for life
from among the tamorristi and the head
chief from among the twelve district chiefs,
The Camorra has its own special tribunals
and Its special laws. The first axiom of
and Its
exist now were it not that the people fear
that the Christian powers might object.
City of'Trlaoll.
Tripoli, the city, lies in the Libyan
desert, on the edge of the Mediterranean
sea. It Is not an oasis of mud houses sur
rounded by mud walls, such as I have de
scribed In my letters from the Sahara, but
It is a cesert city of 00,000 inhabitants with
great white buildings and walls of atone.
Approaching It from the sea the town
looks like a mighty fortification. It la built
upon a sloping peninsula, the houses run
ning around a beautiful bay, guarded by
rocky Islands, which rise like sentinels out
of the blue Mediterranean. At one end of
the bay Is a huge fortification, commanded
by TurkiBh soldiers, and at the other Is the
Kalbah, a fortified caatle, containing the
government offices. Between these two,
running around inside the horns of tho
crescent, are white buildings, mtxd here
and there with structures of green, blue
and rose pink, which, rising almost straight
up from the water, form a great bow,
with these forts at the end.t Behind are
oLL&r buildings of Uirea aod tour stories.
V 1 M-.
PART OP TUB TRIPOLI WATEtt WOBK3.
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TriC CAMORKI3TI LIVE Iff NAPLES
tho Camorra courts is the following:
"Sentences are Just becuuse the Camorra
does not Judtfe with the pen, but with the
heart and mind."
Among the punishments decreed by these
tribunals are tho following: Suspension,
Queer Population
and. over them all, may be seen the tall
lean white minerals of the mosiiues with
green caps on their tops. The houses are
of Arabic architecture and orknlul In
shape, and when one climbs to the roofs of
the highest buildings, as I did today, he
sees that each house Is built about a lit
tle court, the walls facing, which are
pair. tell bright blue.
Aa I stood on the house top, all Tripoli
lay below me. It looked much like a Jum
ble of great goods boxes cast by the hands
of the goda down Into the inliit-t f the
desert. There are but few trees In the
town. At the right, facing the sea, some
distance away, is an oasis of date palms,
but on the other side, as far as the eye
can reach, there are nothing but the hare
yellow sands of the desert of Libya. The
city lies Just south of Malta and Sicily,
and It is, I should say, Juat about midway
between Alexandria and Tunis, the two
greatest of the African cities on the south
ern side of the Mediterranean sea.
Walk Throuab the Streets.
But let us suppose that we are down In
Uio city Itself, wandering about through the
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permanent or temporary, from enjoying the
profits of Camorra operutlona or work; cx
pulsion, permanent or temporary, from the
honorable society; sfreglo, or permanent
visible disfigurement by means of a broken
glass or a razor.
streets. The time Is midday, and the Afri
can Bune blazes like a furnace In thla trop
ical sky of the desert, it dazzles our eyes
and the white buildings about us catch
the rays and throw them back, almost
blinding. In the chief streets of the city
there is no sun at all, and It Is only when
we strike the open spaces that we realize
tho brightness outside.
Tripoli Is a city of caverns. Most of the
streets are either covered with matting or
boards, or are actually built over like great
vaults and lighted here and there by holes
In the roofs. It Is llko going through half
lighted tunnels, and we might wander about
for hours bareheaded without fear of the
sun. This Is especially so In the busi
ness sections. The bazaars consist of
strwets, ten or fifteen feet wide, with white
vaulted roofs, the light coming through
holes In the latter, each of which is about
a foot square. Now and then there wiji
be a break In these roofs, making a short
open space where the sun shines, but after
that the vaults beln again so that one
could go through almost the whole town
and keep under cover. The business streets
are paved with stone, and along the walls
of the houses run ledKes about three feet
high, upon which trie shops face and
where the customers sit while they bur
gain. I.Ike a tiriue Arbor.
The chief shopping section of Tripoli con
sists of a mighty grape arbor. Hern the
street Is roofed over with a lattice work,
upon which grape vines have been trained,
and their cool, green leaves temper the
rays of the sun. This street Is lined with
shop, Km of which sre sbout fiften feet
square. Such shops are considered great
business establishments, and their turbaned
owners are among the nabobs of the cliy.
The ordinary store Is not as wide nor as
long as a library table, and there are many
an small that the merchant within could
not ask a friend to enter without nnvlng
his goods. Almost all th streets are su-h
that wheeled vehicles cannot go through
them and some will not een admit donkevs
Most of the freight Is carried by porters
who go sbout with great loads on their
backs or heads. In the wider streets lit
tle donkeys are the chief beasts of burden,
while the camels carry the heavier loads.
Water (amela.
One of the most Interesting features of
Tripoli is connected with Its water supply.
This town of ftfi.ooo has no water mains or
sewers. There sre no hydrants, end the
water used comes entirely from wells In or
near the city. Some of It I carried In goat
kins on th backs of men, s une of tt In
clay Jars on the heads of women and
great deal In barrels on th hum-, of
(Oontlnusd on Fa Pour.)
Leagues
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r Neapolitan Typi:
(.'apltnl punishments or rather murders,
are executed by means of tnRltrntl 0-ttersl
or knives, and the modo of killing differs
according to the gravity of the crime com
mitted The worst Is by stahhln; In the
stnninch, which prolongs death. Next
comes stabbing In the chest or heart, and
fln.illy stabbing In the head.
The secret tribunal of the Cftmorra alts
s-cncrully In a cellar, and If the crime
tinder consideration Is a cnpltal one It la
composed of the head and the twelve dis
trict chiefs. No defense Is admitted, but a
Camorrlsta acts as prosecuting counsel.
The members of the court come fully
armed but their first act on entering Is
to hand over their weapons to the chief,
who ties them up in a handkerchief and
delivers them to a cumorrlsta who remains
at the door.
The presence of the accused Is not neces
sary When death is 'decreed four plc
cluottl are called In and charged with the
execution of the sentence, generally within
twentv-four hours. The punishment for
denunciations to the police Is always death,
as fn the case of Cuocolo.
As evidence that the sentence has been
curried out the executioners generally take
sorno object belonging to the accused and
Hive It to the chief, who displays It In suoli
a manner so that all the Camorristl can
see It. In the case of Cuocolo, Errioone,
the head chief, wore the dead man's ring
for an entire month after the murder.
The Camorristl have a slung of their
own- which Is characterized by the fact
that It Is only used In poetry. Thus, for
example, a Camorrlsta, very often dis
guised as a lazzarone or tramp, sits In the
sun and sings about a huntsman who went
out shooting birds and tried to hit them
ulld" tl"'r wlnss- PePle tP .an.d 'l,enj
f there happens to be i.amnrns 1 among
them these understand that the huntsman
Is a Judge and that he Is attempting to get
some Information out of members of the
society.
Camorristl communicate with their com
panions In prison by means of these songs;
they warn each other of the approach of
the police and they arrange robberies and
murders In broad daylight and In the most
frequented places.
The Camorristl are very superstitious.
For Instance, they firmly believe that the
murderer who swallows a drop of blood,
of his victim Is never arrested by the police.
In case they have to rob a church or a
shrine, before doing so they kneel down
and say some prayers, followed by a form-
ula to the effect that the robbery Is not
an Insult to God, but a means of getting a
living.
Camorristl often make vows to saints
and In case their undertaking succeeds they
wear a month the special colors of the
saint, green for St. Anne, black for the
Mother of Sorrows and so on. A favorite
vow of the Camorristl Is to ' marry a
woman of bad repute In order to prevent
her from leading a life of sin.
The general Impression throughout Italy
Is that the Camorra Is In league with th
police. It Is said that all the men who
represent Naples in Parliament owe their
elections to the Camorra.' Even the
municipal elections are Influenced by tho
Camorra and hence It follows that th
Honorable society has protectors In high
places
The N'enpolltan deputies have certainly
never made any effort against the Camorra,
in Parliament ntr' have they denied the
revelations rnudn by locul newspapers
alleging their complicity with the Honorable
society. A deputy from tho north of
Italy. Signer Giacomo Ferrl, during a
r-ent debate In the house, provoked by
a question he asked as to whether the poll, e
were so much in league with the Camorra
as to hamper the work of the carablnleri,
furnished the following Information Mbout
this criminal organization whose existence
had b' ( n denied by some Neapolitan depu
ties. It Is a well known fact, he said, that
the authors of the Cuocolo murder were
not arreBted owing to tiie connivance of
the police.
Since the Carablnleri have taken the
matter In hand many things have come to
light. A priest, Don Clro Vitozzl. has
been arrested, and It has ben ascertain) d
that he a the chaplain of the Camorra.
H persuaded the Investigating Judge tt
set free the persons first arrested, for the
Cuocolo murder, and It han been proved
that this man, who is Indicted for nineteen
crimes. murders, Immoral trafficking,
apol'atlon of graves, etc., was a friend of
jurig'-s and high police officials.
Bills of exchange drawn In favor of Judges
and police commissioners have been found
In possession of lion Clro Vitozzl, Krrli one
and other ramorrlstl. Signer Ferrl, there
fore, conclude.! bv saying that there J
not the least shadow of doubt that the
police and Camorra were In league an!
he expressed his firm eonvlc'lon that wei
It not for the personal Intervention of the
king no effort would hav been ever mad
to oc m bat tha Camorra.
i
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