The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-08-09
CAMMORRA TRIAL
WILL LAST MONTHS
Expositions Have Shaken Italy to
Its Foundations But Have
Been Good for Country

VITERBO, Italy Aug. 7.--Over four
months and half have passed since
the Camorra trial began, and 1t can
scarcely be said that the court is half
done with this case, which has no
precedent, at least in Italy. Com
plants have been expressed in Italy
against what they consider the ex-
cessive interest of the American press
in the Camorra revelations as italians
think 1t is a pity that such a trial
should have conceded with the celt-
bration of the Italian jubilee, when
the young kingdom desired above all
to show to the world the progress
made in the last fifty years.
This way of looking at it is abso-
lutely mistaken. Indeed the coinci-
dence which is so deplored is a matter
for congratulations, as it shows thst It
is possible now to strike a determined
blow at the Camorra which would
have been impossible fifty years ago,
and even later, when the public life
of the south was entirely subject to
the Camorra. which was the chief fac
tor in politics and master of city adj
ministrations.
Really a Healthy Step
Like the campaign against brigand-
age, like the bank scandals, the Paliz-
zolo and Nasi trials. the Cuocolo MUIR
der case is one of the painful but
cancel the last remnants of corrup-
tion Inherited from the ancient re-
gimes, and install the reign of mo-
rality. The work to accomplish is
still hard and long. as is proved at
every days sitting here, where the
powers of the Camorra Is still demon
strated chiefly through the difficulty
of collecting evidence and the retic-
ence of the witnesses, but no one has
dared to touch Captain Fabbroni and
Privates Capezzuti and Farris, the he
roes of the bitter struggle against the
association. who In other times might
have lost their lives, and no one has
threatened either the premier or the
minister of justice for not stopping
the trial.
Il is history which recounts that
Silvio Spaventa, one of the noblest
figures among italian statesmen, when
premier, having determined to stamp
Lamarmora, fell from power because
Of this and the first time he went to
Naples he was attacked and beaten in
the streets without it being possible
to bring the culprits to justice. At
the time of Spaventa, when he sent to
forced domicile thousands of Canon
rists; crime diminished 45 per cent in
Naples, and when Captain Fabbroni
formed his squad of terror" and had
the whole police of the city under his
control, crime diminished so per cent
and has never gone up again
No More Surprises
The trial as it now stands, although
it will go on for several months long
en- holds no surprises. All that could
be said on either side has been said,
and the predictions made are that
while there are ample proofs to con-
denim all the accused for the special
crime which in the Italian code is
called criminal association" there Is
not positive and indisputable evidence
to convict those accused OF instigating
the murder or OF having actually
committed it, unless the jury consider
the circumstantial evidence good, of
which there is plenty. For the crime
of being a member of a criminal as
ISOLATION the penalty goes from one to
twelve years in prison, while for MUIR
der there is a life sentence.
The Camorra as whole, however,
is wounded to death as it's sole exist
ence so far depended on the protec-
ton of those in high places, who We're
afraid of not being protected by the
Camorrists, and after this it will be
difficult to find a candidate to any
public office who will consider it an
advantage TO be supported by Canon
rists.