CHAPTER XXVII

THE CAMORRA
The authentic history of that curious Neapolitan frater¬ nity of the underworld known as the Camorra does not go back beyond the year 1820, when secret societies of all sorts became very active in that part of the peninsula. The institution probably existed long before that in Naples, its customs as well as its name having been introduced from Spain.1 That very similar associations of criminals were flourishing in Spain in the sixteenth century is demon¬ strated by Cervantes’s little masterpiece of description, Rinconete y Cortadilla ; while another institution of the same kidney, if not yet named the Camorra, was rooted in Naples in 1573, in which year the Viceroy Cardinal Gran Vela wrote: “It has come to our knowledge that in the prisons of la Vicaria a great number of extortions are practised by the prisoners, some of whom constitute themselves com¬ manders, and levy contributions for providing oil for the lamps, and claim other illegal taxes; in a word, they act as masters in the aforesaid prisons.” Other contemporary documents show that this state of things continued in the Neapolitan prisons despite all the efforts of the authorities. So far as is known, no centralized authority, such as arose later, gave cohesion to these bands of blackmailers, but each of them was practising the same methods of extortion, in the same ways, and gaining its ends by the same means.
What these bands had developed into three centuries later has been so well described by a witty French observer that it will be well to begin this account of the Camorra by quoting his exact words. 2
1 Camorra is Spanish, and signifies quarrel or violent dispute.
2 Marc-Monnier, La Camorra, Paris, 1863, pp. 10 et seq.
204
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205
“What the Camorra is, or what it was not so long ago, I shall tell you in two or three words : it is an association formed by corrupt and violent members of the com¬ monalty who intimidate and blackmail the vicious and the cowardly. . . .
“Among the lowest ranks of the people there exists a society ( secte ), very select, quite localized, well organized, and spread through the whole extent of the former Kingdom of Sicily. I said that it blackmailed the vicious; its dominion is wherever they are gathered together, and chiefly in those places where dire necessity assembles them in the mass, that is to say, in the prisons.
“The Neapolitan guttersnipe begins life as a beggar and rapidly develops into a thief ... he ends up sooner or later by finding himself in a prison. Then only two ways lie before him : if he is a coward he lets himself be exploited by the Camorra; if he has courage he aspires to become a Camorrista himself.”
To arrive at this rank he has to pass through certain degrees of initiation, says our informant. At first he is merely garzone de mala vita , a servant of the servants of full members of the society, and performs the hardest and most unremunerative work. He remains of this degree till he has given proofs of zeal and courage. He then passes from the condition of a candidate to that of a novice, the second degree in this fraternity of crime, and becomes picciotto di sgarro (error).
Some authors divide these two stages into three. Ac¬ cording to them the neophyte begins by being a simple tamurro ; once accepted, he takes the name of picciotto or picciotto d'onore , and becomes a picciotto di sgarro only after a year of service in which his discretion and assiduity are found equal to the pains and dangers undergone.
While it is possible that such divisions existed in the primitive rite of the Camorra, Marc-Monnier was assured by old Camorristas that they had never even heard of the term tamurro, and had come into the society as picciotti di sgarro at the first step.
The picciotto was a person of some importance; he formed part of the society once he had arrived at this grade, which
206 famous secret societies
was not too easy to obtain. The conditions governing the admissions were originally strict, and even argued a kind of morality in the association. For the Camorra was far from being scorned or despised by the masses — and what is more, to a certain extent the Camorra respected itself. It admitted only men who were relatively honest, that is to say, relatively honest according to the society’s notion. At one time, tradition has it, thieves were excluded. To be eligible one had to belong to an honourable family, that is, owning neither wife nor sister devoted to public prostitution; and further, a certain moral standing was needed, never to have been convicted of crimes against nature. An insuperable bar was to be connected in any way with the police.
In Marc-Monnier’s time most of these rules had been dead-letters for many years. The principal requisite for admission was to prove one’s sincerity and courage. The aspirant had to show that he could keep a secret, and did not fear the knife. There were several modes of being advanced to the grade of picciotto di sgarro; by undertaking some crime of violence decreed by the society; or by the tirata, a duel with knives fought against a picciotto chosen by ballot, in which the knife was aimed only at the arm, and the first blood drawn ended the contest.
In former times there was yet another mode of reception. A coin was placed on the ground, and at a given signal a group of Camorristas proceeded to stab at it with their knives. The aspirant had to plunge his hand between the weapons and possess himself of the coin. Sometimes his hand was transfixed by a blade, but he became picciotto di sgarro.
The novitiate of the picciotto lasted any time from two to eight years, for which period he had to do all the hard work of the society without receiving any of the perquisites. He was usually attached as henchman to some particular Camorrista, who made him man-of-all-work for no other reward than a few copper coins bestowed from time to time; but the aspiring picciotto shrank from neither toil nor danger. When a murder was decreed by the society, every
THE CAMORRA
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picciotto volunteered to do the deed ; when it was done, every picciotto volunteered to bear the guilt of it, if guilt had to be borne by somebody. Lots were drawn to decide who should have the honour of accepting responsibility for the crime, and though the fortunate picciotto might go to prison for any period up to twenty years, he became at once a full Camorrista.
To commit murder or undergo imprisonment did not constitute the only methods of attaining the desired rank in the society. After several years of service the novice could address a petition to one of the chiefs praying to be received Camorrista. The leader would assemble his group of followers, and the qualifications of the postulant would be discussed. If the decision was favourable, the reception was attended by a solemn ceremonial.
The members being seated around a table on which were placed a dagger, a pistol, a glass of poison, and a lancet, the aspirant was brought into the room. A vein was opened in his arm with the lancet, and dipping his hand in the blood he stretched it out towards the assembled company and swore to keep the society’s secrets and to obey its com¬ mands in all things. Then he took up the dagger and stuck it into the table, cocked the pistol, and raised the glass to his lips, typifying by these actions his readiness to kill himself at a word from the chief. The chief then took the glass from his hand, and made him kneel down before the table. After that the pistol was fired in the air, the glass broken on the floor, the dagger drawn from the table, put in its sheath, and presented to the candidate, who then exchanged embraces with all present beginning with the chief. He was then considered to have become a full Camorrista, entitled to all the rights, privileges and profits of the society, every section of which was informed of his promotion.
This ceremonial was no longer in vogue by the middle of the nineteenth century, when the formalities had become much simplified. The section having voted for the admission of the candidate as Camorrista, the chief presented him to all the members, and said to him: “From to-day you
208 famous secret societies
are our fellow; you will share in the profits of the society with us. Do you know what are the duties of a Camorrista?” The reply was: “I know them. I have to fight a tirata (mock duel) with one of my comrades; to swear to be faithful to my fellows, to be the enemy of the public author¬ ities, to have no dealings with anyone attached to the police ; moreover, not to denounce my comrades who are robbers, but on the contrary to love them more than the others because they are always risking their lives.”
Thereupon the candidate took an oath to the foregoing effect upon a pair of crossed knives, fought with a comrade chosen by ballot, embraced the chief and all those present, and was proclaimed Camorrista.
A Camorrista admitted in the city would be acknowledged as such in a provincial centre, and vice versa.
The society seems to have spread from the prisons into the city some time about the year 1830, and of course released criminals were the means by which it was established as a canker on the civil life of the community.
In i860 the Camorra consisted of small groups of criminals, independent of each other but with well developed means of intercommunication. One of such groups existed in every Neapolitan prison, while Naples itself possessed twelve, one for each district.
These city districts were subdivided into special paranze, which acted independently and managed their own budgets.
Each district had its chief, and in the golden age of the Camorra the chief of the Vicaria quarter was looked upon as a kind of Grand Master, but that state of things had come to an end before i860.
The chief of every group or centre was elected by those who would have to obey him. His powers were wide, but he could not take any important step without submitting the matter to a council of his subordinates, all of whom, when not under suspension, had a voice and vote in the decision. The main qualification for election to the office of chief was bravery; and his most important duties were to preside at the gatherings of the body and to act as treasurer. This last function entailed the distribution of
THE CAMORRA
209
the camorra, a term applied to the common funds of the society as well as to the society itself. This fund acquired by their extortions was also known as the barattolo (gallipot) . The chief appointed an accountant ( contarulo ) to keep a note of the sums paid into the common fund and to determine the share which fell to each member of the band.
The distribution of their ill-acquired revenues took place every Sunday, and was made by the chief, who had power to inflict fines and deduct sums advanced to his subordinates; nor did he forget to take first of all his own lion’s share before paying out the remainder in order of demerit.
In common with every other secret society through the the ages, the Camorra possessed its peculiar customs and jargon. The latter need not be illustrated, but some of the usages are worth a mention.
No quarrel between two Camorristas was supposed to be carried to extremes before being submitted to the chief, who, if he failed to secure an amicable settlement by arbi¬ tration, would ultimately sanction a duel with knives, a much more serious affair than the tirata.
A Camorrista could resign active membership and yet, in a way, remain bound to the society. He ceased to share in the duties and profits, but was still at liberty to join in its deliberations, and continued to enjoy the prestige of being connected with it. For if the Camorra was feared, it was also respected. Whether it originally came into be¬ ing to defend the weak against the strong or from some less worthy motive, is immaterial; it had certainly come to possess a power superior to that wielded by the public authorities and could enforce better discipline than the latter. Hence in his district the chief Camorrista acted as a kind of civil magistrate; there was no appeal from his judgments, which were often just and always accepted.
The society was not without its charities. Members who had grown old and infirm were supported; pensions were awarded to the widows and children of those who had died by violence while on active service ; the sick were helped, and the dead avenged.
210 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
Of course the Camorra had its own code of laws which was strictly enforced. This code in all probability was never committed to paper, but handed on by oral tradition, varying according to times and districts, each chief ad¬ ministering it according to the letter that had been taught him during his novitiate.
Breaches of discipline in the society were punishable by suspension, which entailed temporary loss of income from the common fund, or by permanent expulsion or in extreme cases the penalty of death. This last punishment was awarded to the disloyal member who had swindled or betrayed the society, by embezzling its funds or defrauding it in any way, by committing any wilful act or criminal negligence tending to its detriment, by attempting to seduce a fellow- member’s wife, or, occasionally but not invariably, for having undertaken a robbery or a murder at the instigation of a non-member.
Sentence was pronounced after trial held in an assembled council of the society, and the executioner was chosen by casting lots. Refusal to act in this capacity was punished with death — ‘ ‘ He who will not be executioner shall be victim. He who refuses to draw the knife shall perish by the knife! ”
When a man was clapped into a Neapolitan prison he at once fell into the hands of the Camorra. A bravo would accost him demanding money for oil for the Madonna’s lamp, a custom which had been in vogue, as we have seen, from at least as early as the year 1573, a time-honoured initiatory piece of blackmail. If this first forced contribution was paid, other demands ensued; the new-comer could neither eat, drink nor smoke without paying tribute, and had to surrender a tithe of all the money that passed through his hands— in short, he was taxed for every action in life, and even if he was the poorest of the poor, he was forced to hand over what little he did call his own. Those who refused ran the risk of being cudgelled to death. The majority of the prisoners, therefore, chose the path of least resistance and paid blackmail to some particular Camor- rista, who in return protected them from the extortions of others.
THE CAMORRA
21 I
Horrible as such a state of affairs must have been, the system seems not to have been lacking in a rough and ready sense of equity. Monnier1 tells a story of a priest who having been cast into the common prison on account of a scandalous love-affair was unable, when accosted, to con¬ tribute to the lamp of the Madonna, for the very good reason that he did not own so much as a single copper coin. The blackmailer threatened to strike him with a stick, and the priest thereupon told him that he would not dare to do so if they were both equally provided with weapons. The Camorrista reported this to his chief, who armed both men with knives (for the Camorra could always dispose of such weapons even in a prison), and in the ensuing duel the priest, who came of brave Calabrian peasant stock, killed his antagonist. The Camorra of the prison hushed up the affair without the least difficulty; and not only did the priest remain unmolested thenceforth, but received all through his period of imprisonment a small sum of money paid regularly each week, his share of the Camorra, as though he were a newly-elected member.
It is probable that at a period when criminals and political prisoners were herded together the Camorra may have been formed as a safeguard and in the interests of the prisoners themselves. It is certain that even under the Bourbons the Camorra maintained a kind of tranquillity and security in the prisons. In assuming the monopoly of violence and disorder the Camorristas prevented others from following their example and infringing what they looked upon as their rights. They extorted money, but discovered and punished thieves; they possessed knives themselves, but disarmed all others; they stabbed, if need arose, but prevented assassinations. So everyone who valued his purse or his life, when cast into a Bourbon prison sought the aegis of the Camorra, and chose his patron Camorrista. Furthermore, the society often aided the prison authorities in maintaining discipline.
1 Op. ext., p. 44.