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2024-08-19 Europe
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'Camorra Puppies': Italian Youth Take Over Old Mafia Bosses
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Vladimir Dobrynin
| After a wave of violent showdowns and shootings in 2017, the term "child gangs" entered police usage. These groups are made up of teenage criminals and are distinguished by a rigid hierarchical structure. |
[REGNUM] In Naples, in the square of the church of San Vincenzo, in the Rioni Sanità quarter, a bronze composition has been installed - a young man dressed in a shirt and jeans is trying to pull out a ball stuck between two slats of a boulevard bench. A metal plaque attached to the base of the composition tells anyone interested that this is a monument to Gennaro Cesarano, a boy who died from a Mafia bullet late in the evening of September 6, 2015. He will forever remain seventeen years old.
Continued from Page 2
Gianni, as his neighbors affectionately called him, lived a hundred meters from the place where the bronze figure copying him is now installed. He was a completely ordinary young man: he met with his classmates, sometimes liked to sit on a street bench to slowly and with pleasure inhale the aroma of the last summer nights before the start of the new school year. He paid tribute to the fashion of sports, went to church on Sundays, loved the sea. Troubles bypassed him until that fateful September evening.
UNFORESEEN DAMAGE
Four powerful, guttural, lion-like roaring bikes appeared on the square unexpectedly and abruptly. As if in pursuit of originality in the editing, the director decided to change the frame rudely and unprofessionally. The brakes squealed shrilly. Eight riders, without jumping off the cars, with a short, effective cinematic movement snatched their weapons - some from their belts, some from their armpit holsters. A chaotic, merciless, angry shootout began.
The bikers were young members of the same Neapolitan Camorra mafia clan, led by a leader named Lo Russo. But they belonged to different factions, and the resulting "firefight" was one of many that constituted an ongoing feud for control of this part of the area.
It was a shot at random, but with the expectation that the enemy would be destroyed. Gianni was not a target, he was simply unlucky enough to become an accidental victim of a stupid bullet. The young gangsters, who had almost not aimed, did not even notice the unforeseen damage that they had unloaded their entire ammunition supply. And they stepped on the gas.
"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's how we like to say when explaining a random victim," says Antonio Cesarano, Gianni's father. Even today, seven years after the tragedy, his voice trembles when he remembers his son, and tears come to his eyes." But these words do not correspond to reality. It was a normal, not at all criminal place. For walks and communication of people far from criminality. I cannot explain how unnatural it is to lose a child. Of course, life always ends in death, but in the case of a child it is unfair. Especially if he died as a result of such a monstrous accident."
A few months after Gianni's murder, history repeated itself. The innocent victim was 19-year-old Ciro Colonna. He had nothing to do with the Camorra either. The boy was simply going about his business, pacing quickly along one of the streets of Ponticelli, an eastern suburb of Naples.
And at that very moment, two groups of shooters met there again. One of them suffered a loss: Giuseppe Vastarella, the head of the gangster team that intended to finish off that same Lo Russo, who was mentioned earlier, was killed. Vastarella also took part in the shootout that took Gianni's life.
All those involved in these two deaths of innocent guys are serving prison terms today. Carlo Lo Russo also looks at the sky through a large cage - he received 16 years for organizing the murder. The sentence could have been more severe, but Carlo made a deal with the investigation, and his term was reduced. His accomplices did not dare to take such a step and therefore will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
It won't bring Cesarano Sr.'s son back, but it will give him, as he puts it, "a moment of peace." "This verdict isn't just a death sentence for criminals," he says, "it's a symbol of the return of the rule of law to the city."
PARADIGM SHIFT
Hope for a change in the situation arose when the Apennine media were full of headlines about the "mafia trial of the century" opening on January 13, 2021. The Italian justice system worked tirelessly, unraveling the cases of prominent and not so prominent figures of the "Ndrangheta" - one of the most powerful mafias in the country.
Law enforcement officers managed to put 355 people on trial, whom the media called gangsters, corrupt politicians and people occupying high positions in the hierarchy of organized crime. As a result of the process, which lasted almost three years, more than 200 people received prison terms.
Several bosses were erased from this life by a random (or not) police bullet during arrests, someone agreed to become a "pentiti" (a crime boss who cooperated with law enforcement).
The Italian justice system has not achieved such success since 1986, when, as a result of a trial, about 300 mafiosi from another organization, Cosa Nostra, were jailed for many years.
There was no celebration of the victory over the ‘Ndrangheta in Italy. Firstly, remembering that the prosecutors who led the Cosa Nostra case did not die of natural causes after the trial. That is why Nicola Gratteri, the prosecutor who developed the ‘Ndrangheta case, has been under constant police protection for over 30 years.
And secondly, everyone involved understood perfectly well that the hydra would grow new heads. And, as a rule, younger, less reasonable and much more frostbitten. There were plenty of reasons for such thoughts.
CHILDREN'S GANGS
After a wave of violent showdowns and shootings in 2017, the term "child gangs" entered police usage. These groups are made up of teenage criminals and are distinguished by a rigid hierarchical structure. Many members of such gangs are not yet fourteen years old. They preferred studying criminal sciences on the street to studying at school.
Juvenile bandits are involved in drug trafficking, stealing, robbing, and are not afraid to commit robbery. Like Latin American maras*, they resort to violence without thinking. Without regard to the age, gender, or physical condition of the person they meet on the road.
Juvenile crime is not a new phenomenon in Naples. Almost forty years ago, Giancarlo Siani, a reporter who devoted his short life to investigating the activities of mafia structures, wrote about children who were actively used by the Camorra in its service. Siani died in September 1985 - two Camorra killers armed with Berettas lay in wait for him near his home and put ten bullets in his head. He was only 26 years old.
"They are called in the specific slang of drug traffickers muscili (translated from Italian as "little flies" - Ed.). They are used as intermediaries and couriers in the distribution, delivery and retail sale of "dope". They are convenient and are not punishable by law. Even if they are caught red-handed with a whole bag of heroin. Those who go to muscili are not yet old enough to be considered criminally responsible," he wrote in his last article a few days before his death.
"Now the modus operandi has changed. The judges have done a good job of decapitating many criminal clans. The vacancies that have arisen are being filled by real youngsters. With almost no life experience, but a long criminal record, " another Italian journalist, Fabio Giuliani, noted after analyzing a report published by Libera, a non-profit anti-mafia association.
— 20 years old is the age at which people now become bosses of gangster associations. From the latest reports of the Anti-Mafia Research Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we learn that the level of lawlessness is growing and its positions in the region are strengthening. We learn about the feud between youth groups and their coexistence with the "true Camorrist organizations". The bosses of "children's gangs" can have hundreds of people under their command, mostly minors, working as guards, squires, couriers delivering drugs to homes. Minors work as anyone, even killers."
According to the Naples police, in 2017, there were at least 2,000 members in the child gangs led by "baby bosses", who are referred to in the press as "Camorra puppies". There is no hint of humiliation in this definition. It is only a statement of the fact that for years they have not yet left the gang to be considered real mafiosi. There is no public data on how many "puppies" are on the streets today. But no one would dare to claim that the number of "boys with guns" has decreased since then.
Young gangsters don't need a reason to start shooting in the streets. All they need is a sudden desire to make everyone walking on the sidewalk fall to the asphalt, hiding from bullets. This is how they remind everyone who lives here, and those who just happen to wander in, who's boss. Every year, since 1980, at least three innocent victims have died from accidental lead "overdoses" on the streets and squares of Naples.
LESS PIZZA - MORE PIZZA
Antonio Cesarano moves slowly through the streets of Sanità, he has nowhere to hurry. The sun is still high and seems to say: "As long as I shine, there is no danger." The inscriptions on the walls of the houses suggest that the "solar guarantee" is not 100%. The tirades of the wall art of the quarter, whose authors do not consider it necessary to follow the canons of grammar and spelling, contain threats to the apostate pentiti with all kinds of punishments. From divine to human.
Cool "motors" roar past time after time. The young people riding them are pointedly without helmets. Is it really worth worrying about damaging your head when you constantly have the danger of getting a dose of lead in your skull?
"Since the youth took over, the pizzo, the tax imposed by racketeers on the owners of local shops, restaurants, pizzerias and other commercial outlets, has fallen by half," Cesare suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere says. And it seems that his voice sounds like praise for the young bandits for easing the pressure on their "protected people." However, it turns out that this is not the case.
"Now the main source of income is drugs. And they are often sold at retail in bars. If the owner of the establishment is subject to a high tax, he will be forced to raise the prices of the dishes served, and the service too. And then the influx of people will decrease. In these neighborhoods they are not used to, and do not have the opportunity to eat at a high price. Young, but they already understand the pricing mechanis," Antonio states with a wry smile.
His gesticulation (where have you ever seen an Italian explaining something with a stony expression and standing at attention?) attracts the attention of a group of young men dressed in branded shirts and furiously poking something at the screens of their expensive mobile phones.
They also look at the reporter talking to him with a distrustful and questioning expression: why is he here, is he pretending to be a foreigner - maybe a plant? A plant from the carabinieri?
CHOOSING AN ICON
There is no war without saints and demons. It is carried out in their names and thanks to them it ends. Moreover, there cannot be common saints for the conflicting parties by definition. The one appointed as a saint by one is the embodiment of the devil for the other. In essence, they are separated by one step. A tiny distance between two (or more) opposing groups, whose "soldiers" have already pulled the bolts, cocked the triggers, but are not shooting.
Waiting for some reason (perhaps following the stereotype imposed by Hollywood westerns) for the enemy to make a wrong move, which the survivors will then have the right to interpret as provocative and threatening. And to issue an excuse for them, “we were defending ourselves,” which, frankly speaking, neither side needs.
Who to appoint the person who unleashed the war - a saint or a devil - is the choice of society. What moods circulate in society, what is spoken about more - the positive or negative of a specific person - from this stove and dances. Robin Hood is the first of the folk legends emerging from the past. A noble robber. A robber, but a noble one.
Of the young Neapolitan militants, the closest to him was Emilio Sibillo, a 17-year-old teenager who put together his own “brigade to cleanse the streets of the Mafia” and burned out this evil (which, by the way, consisted of young people like him) with fire and sword for two years. Emilio executed without much thought as to whether there were sufficient grounds for passing the death sentence: he cleaned the streets of drug dealers, racketeers and other “dark forces”.
For this, he was respected by politicians and businessmen, who freed themselves from the “youthful” pizza and returned to paying into the pockets of the “old, adult, wise mafia.” And who gladly paid for the services of ES17 (the letters are the initials of Emanuele Sibillo, the numbers are the age at which he began his “work activity”), as they still write in his memory on the walls of the houses of the narrow Via Oronzio Costa, where he finally met his death.
In fact, all of them simply exchanged one "roof" for another, but with relief in illegal "taxation" and under the slogans of fighting crime and injustice. The noble robber informed society in detail about his activities, covering the results of the ongoing rehabilitation on social networks - with photos and videos of enemies lying in pools of blood. His account was bursting with enthusiastic comments and likes. His life was exactly like a movie and was not worth a lira.
Two years later (July 5, 2015), he also ran into a bullet. A little while later, a small bust of ES17 appeared in one of the alleys of the San Gaetano quarter he patronized. The production of the memorial sign was initiated and paid for by grateful businessmen. The local court held hearings on the case, eloquently called Caso La paranza dei bambini (translated into Russian - the case of the piranha children).
Local level Themis servants stated that during two years of conflict between youth groups with the use of firearms, 60 teenage fighters went to the other world. Another 40 teenage warriors were placed behind bars as a result of the trial. The total term of their stay there was 500 years.
The writer Roberto Saviano wrote a novel based on the events, and the director Claudio Giovanesi made a film (both works are called “Piranha of Naples” in the Russian-language version).
STATUS QUO
Italian newspapers occasionally burst into musings and reports about Naples under clickable headlines such as “Young people take power in the Camorra.” And with supporting conclusions based on information about the ongoing war of “children’s gangs” in the spirit of “The Camorra’s 12-billion-dollar business of money laundering, garbage disposal and cocaine distribution has not changed, although the streets and squares of the city are now controlled by young people aged 17 to 25. ”
Journalists contradict themselves when they say that "teenagers without a king in their heads" are taking over the leadership positions from the gray-haired sages of the mafia. Yes, tough guys on motorcycles, who start shooting before they can think, look like a threat to the heads of powerful clans, who conduct business in the quiet of their villas and offices, far from the bustle of the world. Yes, those who are lucky enough to survive start dressing fashionably and expensively, throwing money around at discos and listening to the respectful "boss" addressed to them.
But they are not destined to climb to the very top, as the guy nicknamed "Scarface" managed to do somewhere far beyond the Atlantic waves. Al Pacino's hero is a figure written specifically for the cinema, and the situation is also drawn in a cinematic way.
Real mafia leaders have a short conversation with such upstarts, and often the entire conversation consists of pronouncing an epitaph over the cooling corpse of the one who "crossed the red lines." It happens, however, that some "non-systemic oppositionists" are lucky and manage to understand that it is better to exist within the framework assigned to them by the top of the organization than not to exist at all.
According to the data of the Neapolitan prosecutor's office, control over the city is in the hands of two mafia clans - Alianza de Secondigliano and Mazzarella. Their leaders are not young people at all. Young men who are not afraid of anyone or anything are allowed to keep the streets in fear. But this should be done wisely - it is impossible to create a bad reputation for Naples in the tourist environment by acts of excessive cruelty. No one has canceled the legal economic base of the mafia. And under the guise of ordinary guests it is easier for people engaged in not entirely legal business to penetrate the city.
The center of Naples is controlled by the gang of 26-year-old O'Puorsé, a man not a random person among gangsters. His father chose the path of a bank robber. O'Puorsé's uncle was a hired killer in one of the clans. The uncle-killer has 34 interrupted lives on his personal account.
"When I was little, I often saw in our house those same politicians who appeared on TV and cursed organized crime in every possible way. That's when I realized that you can't trust anyone, and a real "capo" is not the one who shoots people on the street with a revolver, but the one who leads from the shadows," - this statement by O'Puorsé is circulating in Italian newspapers. But none of them dares to say that the young man said these words into the microphone of their correspondent.
"He doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't carry a weapon, runs a drug trafficking network, but doesn't dabble in drugs himself. Several years ago, he got a year and a half for participating in an armed attack. But he didn't spend a single day in prison - he spent all that time "resting" under house arrest. He probably could have been acquitted, but that was apparently not part of his plans.
In order to gain access to the organization, it is simply necessary to have a criminal record - otherwise the prospects of taking a high position in the system are practically zero. He is smart and knows exactly where he is heading in this life," - this is the assessment of the Spanish El País of the candidate for the future real, and not street bosses of the Neapolitan mafia.
"FALCONS" - CLEANERS
Only death can stop O'Puorsa's upward progress, according to police officers from the Falchi (Falcons) special unit. The team was created with the powers of a special police unit (SOBR) to quickly respond to violent crimes.
A total of 13 burly fighters, looking like Supermen from Marvel comics, are sitting on tables and chairs in their office on the fourth floor of the Naples Police Department, preparing to go on night duty.
A worn leather jacket with metal elbow pads, one pistol in a holster under his arm, the second one in the back of his belt, a bulletproof vest, scars on his face - a typical image of an actor starring in an action movie with fights, massacres, shooting...
But these guys are not supermen from the theater stage, everything is not pretend for them. The guardians of the law have long been convinced from their own combat (and how else) experience that the treatment of the disease called street crime can only be carried out by a radical method. By removal operations. From life, of course.
But overly lenient legislation, they believe, does not allow “cutting to hell without waiting for peritonitis.”
It's the 21st century, but Naples is stuck somewhere in Chicago in the 1930s. And it seems that even though it would like to get out of this swamp, it is unable to do so. Life in the city is "what it is, and nothing more."
*Mara Salvatrucha (Mara Salvatrucha) is a slang name for an organized crime group that, according to the FBI, has between 50,000 and 80,000 members. It operates in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the United States, and some other countries.
The gang members are involved in contract killings, kidnappings, racketeering, robberies, extortion, protection of prostitution, car theft. The highest hierarchical layers of the organization are involved in fraud, money laundering and drug trafficking.
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