The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-05-10
THE DREAD CAMORRA
Methods and Tyranny of Hid
eous Neapolitan League.
a TWIN SOCIETY TO THE MALTA.
Composed Chiefly Of Those who HAD
Broken the Law-The Penalty Of
Resisting the Cruel Edicts.

ence. The camorra was powerful in all
places of confinement in the old kingdom
of the Two-Sicilys. Il was established
wherever . certain number of prisoners
were found together. 1t was organized in
little groups, independent of one another.
but not without mutual relations 1t was
not subject to the orders of single head,
but owed q certain traditional subordina-
ton OF one center TO another; all the pris-
ons Of Naples, for example, were subordin-
ated to the Castle Capuana, and the Castle
Capuana in its turn TO the bagnio of
Procida. The capital had no authority
over Its provinces, and strange and bloody
rivalries sometimes occurred between the
provincial sectariaus and the Neapolitans:
but the camorrist received in one city was
welcomed in every other place as such on
the recommendation of the chiefs, who
notified one another mutually to this eff
feet from one end of the kingdom to the
other
The chief of each center was elected by
those who paid him obedience. He had
doubtless great power. but was unable to
make any important decision without the
consent of his subordinates- Every cam
orrist who was not undergoing punish
ment had q consulting and deiiberative
voice. Nothing more grotesque could be
imagined than these super-serious reun-
ions. where peasants argued gravely and
ungramatically, with unblushing incorrect
ness, about the most indistinguishable
minutie. Nothing, also, could have been
more terrible than when. with the same
calm and the same GOODNESS they discussed
questions of life and death.
The camorrists chose for their director
the man among them who was the most
imperious and the bravest- But they chose
him only for the purpose of directing them.
He never became more than the president
of their reunions and the treasurer of the
band- As presiding officer he had
the right of conversations; as
treasurer he enjoyed considerable infitl-
ence, for it was he who distributed the
camorra. Camorra was the name of the
society in general, but it was also more
especially the term expressing the funds
of the common bank. All the money
brought In was deposited in the hands of
the chief, who associated with himself q
confaruio, whose duty it was to keep the
books and to know precisely the share of
the camorra which fell to each member
He had also secretary chosen from the
few members who had been instructed at
school. The latter was obliged to swear
upon the cross or on crossed knives
which amounted to the same thing-to re-
veal to no one, not even to his brothers,
anything that the chief, who was ignorant
of writing, had done him the honor to
dictate to him.
The distribution of the camorra was
performed every Sunday by the chief him
self. who, of his own right, retained on
that occasion the fines inflicted for slight
transgressions, and liquidated the small
private affairs of the subordinates. These
subtractions performed, he divided be-
tween them exactly the sum of the ca
mora; but. first of all, he had set aside
for himself the lions share.
Whether the code governing the organi-
zation of the camorra has eve been writ
ten it is difficult to say. Why should it
have been done? The greater part of the
companions were unable to read. A few
writers, gathering up rumors in one place
and another, and adding to them great
deal of their own invention, have divided
the result into articles and have written
out . law of the camorra. But it is far
more probable that the companions hand
ed verbally from one to another certain es-
sential traditions, and left all details to
the Judgment of the chiefs and of their
subordinates. As to the judgments pro-
nounced by the camorrists against their
companions, it is impossible to deny that
they were startling and sinister. At the
call of the chief the society sat in tribunal
and pronounced sentence of death.
When misdeed of any nature. either an
assassination, for example, or too liberal
political views, brought an accused person
into the prison of the Castle Capuana-
after having passed through the great door
of this palace, built by King William in
the twelfth century, and having passed
below the gallery which extends entirely
around the court-he arrived by very
broad stairway at very low door, through
which man of medium height coulo not
pass without removing his hat The door
-or rather these two doors, for there were
two of them, surmounted each by pious
frescos, one representing the Madonna
and the other the angel who delivered ST.
Peter-gave access to the two prisons
which divided between them the criminals
and the friends of progress-the prison of
the mobiles and that of the people When
the accused had passed through the one or
the other of these doors, according to his
condition, he fell at once into the hands of
the camorrists. A bravo approached him
with outstretched, or rather upllfted.
hand, and began by asking him for money
for the Madonna's lamp. II is the custom
at Naples not only to set up images of the
Holy Virgin at every corner of the street,
but to display them also in the profane
shops, in cafes, and in taverns, even in
the lowest haunts of the vicious. The
Madonna figures also in the prisons, are
venerated by the convicts as well as by
the camorrisss, who made it their duty to
supply oil TO the lamp which burns before
her. For this purpose they always asked
. contribution from each prisoner, and
this gave . sufficient sum TO illuminate the
entire city. This is tine-honored usage,
traces of which We find constantly, going
back through the history of Naples to the
Spanish conquest, and in the history of
Spain back 10 the time of middle ages. Oil
for Madonna was in all times pretext for
every sort Of cheating, even for the hum
blest of all, which is beggary.
Having paid for oil, however, the pris-
oner had not yet escaped the camorrists.
He remained IN their hands until the time
of his liberation. He could not take
step without having at his heels fatal
man depressing him with his imperturb-
able visage The wretch had not even the
small remnant of liberty secured to him
by solitude in the meanest dungeon: the
least of all his acts was not only under
surveillance. but vigorously taxed. He
could neither eat nor drink, nor gamble
nor smoke without the consent of the
camorrists He owed them one-tenth of