New-York tribune., 1901-05-26
MUSSOLINO STILL FREE.
ADVENTUROUS CAREER OF THE MOST
NOTED ITALIAN BRIGAND.

Rome correspondence of The London Post
Weeks and months pass and yet the famous
brlgand MusSolino. who roams roamed in tn"
mountains above Aspromontc. in Calablia. is still
al large. The reports of his death are diScrcd-
tied Probably they circulated in the hope
of diverung The attention of the authorities.
The Italian newspapers. which regard the
h"ers as miraculous heroes because they sue
ceeded in escaping capture 10y the British army
IN the 1rdnsNaal, might with advantage reflect
that Tor the last nine months the Italian Gov
eTnment has set nearly five hundred men
carabineers soldiers and police-to hunt MuSSo-
limo, and that up to now they have succe,.! .!ad
only in losing all traces OF the famous brigand
Since February he has not even been heard of
and the authorities have not the faintest idea
where to look for him
The conditions Of the problem are similar To
those existing in the TransVaal-a larg- Mum
Der of men operating over Considera blc dis
trict, IN search of an enemy perfectly acquainted
with the locality agile and favored tv the
population. Thus the MuSsolno phenomenon
attracted first the attention and then IN, Scorn
Of the Italian public. The name phenomenon is
not misplaced because MuSsolino would long
ago have been captured but for the extraor-
binary social conditions prevailing IN Gala bria.
Iher+ Shouid hc no miSC"nIepti0n as 10 the
word hrigand. MIssono is not the brigand
who stops travellers or tourists and holds them
10 ransom. or who INDUCES in highway robbery
Foreigners and tourists can go through th,.
wholc of caiabria with perfect safety without
imagining a brisi,nd to be i'm their neigh
burhouu. unless they happen read tn. local
newspapers, or to come across unusually large
caiabIneer or infantry patrols. Mussolino is an
escaped ConNlCt-aCCprdlnS To popular belief
justly condemncd-who Is wanted both be-
cause OF his escape, and because since his
escape he has murdered nearly all the persons
VINO. as witnesses, magistrates or jury. had any
thing to do with his condemnation. But If h,.
was unJuStly imprisoned in the last instance h.
was hy no means saint
AT fifteen years of aGe ne belonged To fh, naIa
vita ana was watched by the police in March
'N.'4 when only seventeen years old he was I'M
Pri$oncd for laNbreakinc. and three wears later
10: hous"brrakinS AT the end Of 1897 and the
beginning of lSS he was repeatedly imprisoned
Iur lniilCtnE wounds on his fellow tOwnSmen
Ills condemnation f.: attempted murder at the
end "f iS!'N was merely logical, though per
haIS ON the evidence an UNJUST continuation
81 has criminal career. His cS,apc from prisou
marked the hrsinnng of his murderous ven
dtttas which were to gain for hin, the titIe and
rank ot grand captain of the Calabrian Pic
ciottcra.
The Picciotteria is something difrerart iron,
the SlclIian Malta ana the Neapolitan Camorra
thAuSh To some extent II combines the features
"i h'th The Malta Is not vast organized
criminal society, hut rather sa SPONTANEOUS
grouping togt thcr al ruWdics and bullips i'm vnri
"u9 localities for The purposes of iefying the
"'"' Getting Justice doac To its members and
sometimes of levviuE blackmai
The tamorra - less respe table than IN,
M.tir1. does not. as a rule, commit sanguinary
Sili"' s. ana turns it's attention to making money
IN 4 'n"H ana ways for the coward.y raScals
VINO belong - il The PiCciatteria is like th,
tam"rra, an organized association hut lis sen
llhentS are more like those of the Malta "Onr
l"r an ana al for one" may he said to be its
IN ITO. 1t is composed of unrulV characters
whose disposition leads them tc set th, law nj
HNhth'c ana cooperate in securing immunity
from punishment for crimes which they singlv
or Jointly may commit.
Unlike the CamOrra the Piccintterio com,
hltS the most daring crimes. including burglary
arson and murder; unlike the Malta il is di-
Nld'd INTO sections. has tribunals of Justice a
treasury, ana a supreme council. Its members
are known as picciotti but among themselves
are called irati, or brethren. They conven-