The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1911-12-29

lHd4IEZL4GGO III
~ HE Camorra, the dread Italian
secret society, thrives and Will
ever thrive in Naples so long
as the profoundly depressed
conditions of economic and i'll
tellectual poverty subsist, but they ana
the world at large will never be aoie
to understand how, in spite OF the
high degree of civilization OF. our MOD
ern times, the Camorra can easily com
nit daring robberies, assaults, afro
cious murders and other excuses OF
inconceivable ferocity and still have
the almost complete certainty OF De
ing left systematically unpunished' re-
lying partly on its members secrecy
which is the very gospel OF this Grim
inal association, partly on tie weak
ness of public officials. For every nun
dred Camorrists that are caught there
are other thousands who will come to
the front. AS happens on the morrow
of a deadly battle where the etat
majeur has been dispersed by the
shrapnel, the cadets are promoted In
masses to the higher ranks; and the
Camorras cadets, holder than ever.
are eager to excel their leaders.
The prisons are one of the chief
fields of Camorristic extortion, either
of money from the well to do prison
er to provide wine, tobacco and fruit.
or of personal slavery. in the case of
a member in reduced circumstances.
The prisons being divided into Sec
tons, each section chooses provision
al chief, who rules over the whole sec
ton through orders which he trans
mits by fellow prisoners with special
signs, conventional refrains or scrawl-
ed messages struggled in bread or 9TH
erwise.
Five years ago great lady of
Naples drove out TO take the air
in the Villa Nazionale, that strip OF
park by the sea. She was blithe and
smiling, for royalty was to drink tea
with her at five. There came riding
by a big man, all gold chains and dia-
monds, on a young horse. He was De
Marinis, boss of one of the election
districts of Naples, plumed chief OF
the Camorra Was the great lady's
coachman at fault? In any case
there was a collision and the mighty
politician was rolled in the dirt. He
got to his feet, cursing-oh, black
stream of blasphemy dubbed from
his mouth. He cursed and spat into
| her carriage.
AS much of it as could be told the
great lady told the duke of Aosta
That indignant prince vowed to pull
down this topping insolence.
What the duke of Aosta did was to
go straight to the king. When his
majesty was heir to the throne be
lived for many years in Naples. None
better than he knew the power of the
Camorra; none better than he knew
that his ministers looked to it for a
! governmental majority in Naples; but
he said Stamp them out If you can
| am with you in this fight" And king
and duke planned the war on the
Camorra. There was no pretense o.
| trusting the magistracy of the police
| -rat-ridden, both, with Camorra cor
ruption. The work was given to the
army Notably it was given to the
military police-more notably still tt
/ Capt Fabroni of the Carabineers, 6
/ smart young Roman officer, all brai1
| and pluck
! And the chiefs of the Camorra tool
/ the air of the Villa Nazionale on theil
! tall horses, they talked politics anG
/ crime in the smart Cafe Eortunio IL
the Galleria; they supped at Santa Lu
! cia and took their ease. They neithel
knew nor cared that Fabroni captain
! Of the caratineers, was at work. Els
pecially they did not know that Fab
roni had loosed among them a soft
! footed Roman hound-one Capezzuto
In and out of the dark holes of tn.
! Camorra this devil of man slipped
sometimes posing as a criminal, flu
gitive, beggar, till they laid the oatl
of the Camorra on him and told hin
! things best untold. But the true worl
he did was to find a traitor And wha
a traitor!
Get a Camorra Chief.
The great chiefs of the Camorr;
were quite at ease. Erricone Alfano
who had been the chief since 1898
resigned that high post and contente,
himself with his district leadership O
the Vicaria He even made trip t
New York, where he was feted an,
banqueted. Fucci reigned in his stead
Then the blow fell. One night tn
carabineers gathered in over two scor
Camorrists Of high and low degree
good italians and bad, sachems an
outlaws. They took Fucci. the chic
and De Marinis, whose insolence ha