The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-12

fall. A leading italian newspaper ex-
plains that the chief motive for these
crimes is not cupidity or desire Of plum
der, but either vanity-that is, a false n
exaggerated sense Of honor-or morbid
jealousy or rancor. Every year Italy fights
q great battle with herself, which costs
1000 lives and gains her nothing but
shame. Many such crimes are supposed
to be committed by the notorious Camorra
and Malta societies. 1t is estimated that
1000, 900 murders have been committed
during the past decade.
Tho Camorra in it's palmy days was, ac-
cordinR to Heckethorn, IAN association OF
thieves, ~p1underers, blacklegs, gamblers,
biackmailers, extortioners, highway rob
bers and assassins." Heekethorn insists
that it had it's beginning In the prison OF
Naples.
There was, it is said, in the prison of
Fano q socialistic genius named Antonio
Giapnrofli, who, finding that on the ar
rival of a fresh prisoner only a few of the
previous inmates profited by the plumber,
conceived the fdea Of forming an organiza-
tion which should systems tically under
take the job OF fleeing the newcomers
and share equally in the proceeds. The
realization of the idea proved that An
tonic had, in common parlance,sa great
head, for after the organization OF the So
ciety the robbing was much more thor
oughly and systematically done, and all
the members shared in the benefits. The
good features of the order commended 1t
to tho Judgment Of other prisoners, and
soon all those incarcerated in the castle of
Fano were members Of the new order.
When times became quiet, conspirators
and banditti were released a few at a
time, and as the terms OF other prisoners
expired they, too, departed, and by their
manner Of life soon rendered themselves
candidates for incarceration elsewhere.
Remembering the success of the prison or
der in Fano, the robbers and murderers
who speedily found lodgings in the pris-
ons OF Naples. Florence, Milan, Geneva
and Rome thought of the benefits con
ferrcd upon themselves and their friends
by the society of Fano, and consequently
branches of the oreer were established in
the prisons Of every large city in Italy, and
before 1890 every prison had a Camorra
society.
No long time elapsed before the bright
inteilccts of the prison orders fancied that
the usefulness of the society might be ex-
tended beyond the prison walls. In 1928
a merchant doing a humble business in
one Of the naorar ouarters Of Naulas was
visited nv 4 stranger who reouesfad A con-
trib,fion ..for, the Caraorra, , The n,er-
chant refused. statipg that he knew moth
inc of tba Camera never heard the word
before and finally ordered his inportunata
vis;tar o,zt If tba shon Every store in
that street vsceived a call from the r,vs-
ferious ranae and every storekeapsr re-
fused 10 contribute. On the following
r,arnine there was a sensation in the
ne}phborhood for tho first merchants was
fo,nd dead IN his he'd with half a faze,,
stilette wounds in his body and a nlacard
on his breast int.mating that he had been
executed by the Camorra. A day or two
later another stranger, as mysterious as
the first, went through the street wishsa
similar request for contributions. Several
of the storekeepers paid, but the next day
one who had refused was found dead un-
der circumstances which recalled the first
assassination and with o similar placard.
The story was told all over Naples, aid
people began to speculate as TO what the
Camorra might DO. They soon learned,
for within o few months agents of tho So
cicty visited every store in Naples, do