The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-07-19
CAMORRA TRIAL
RAN is MONTHS
Minutes Covered 10000 Pages
Of Typewriter Matter.
700 WITNESSES TESTIFIED.

Cost to Italy Was $5o0,o0o - Fifty
Thousand Documents In Evidences.
Soldiers Constantly on Guard-Sub-
stitute Officials Attended Hearings.
In the remarkably long trial of the
Camorrists at Viterbo, Italy, which
stretched out for almost year and a
half and came to close recently, the
examination of witnesses began March
II, 1911, and was preceded by pre-
liminary investigation of five years.
The cause of the trial was the murder
of Gennaro Cuocolo, a Camorrist, at
Tore del Greco, and of his wife, Ma
ria Cutinelli, in Naples. Their killing
was q Camorrist execution.
During the long trial the following
prisoners died: Giro Alfano, who was
arrested on the day of his marriage
and is said TO have died Of broken
heart; Pasquale Gargiulo and Matteo
Valcarcei, who died last June, and Giro
Vitelli, who was present at the murder,
but evaded arrest and died of cholera
last year.
Altogether over 700 witnesses were
heard during the trial. but, notwith-
standing this, the prosecutions case
rested almost entirely on the testimo-
ny of Abbatemaggio, former CatnOr-
rist and an informer.
Among the defendants was Giro vi
tOzzi, Roman Catholic priest, concern
ing whose alleged double life many
sensational revelations were made. An
other defendant was Erricone Alfano,
who was arrested in New York. This
man was the leader of the Camorrists
and was also said to be the guiding
spirit of the Black Hand gangs in the
United States
A Peculiar Circumstance.
Owing to lack of evidence and the
practical impossibility of compelling
witnesses to denounce the Camorrists
the kings procurator had to withdraw
the charge of murder against some of
the defendants, of whom there were
sixty, and to admit that the proof of
the guilt of some of the others was in
sufficient The charges of criminal as
sociation which We're made against q
number of men and women among the
defendants were also withdrawn. Out
Of the twenty-five Camorrists who We're
charged with such criminal associa-
ton, n crime which cannot be punish
ed with more than five years impris-
onment, seventeen prisoners arrested
five years ago served out their terms
before the trial and were released au-
tomatically.
Only two of the Camorrists who We're
implicated in the murder of Cuocolo
and his wife or mistress succeeded in
evading arrest. They We're Giuseppe
Esposito and Andrea Attanasio, who
fed and are supposed to be hiding in
America now. Erricone Alfano also
fed to this country, but he was ar
rested in New York by Detective Pc
trosino, whose murder in Italy was the
Camorrist answer. Giovanni Rapi, who
fled to Paris, returned to Italy and will
ingly surrendered himself to the po-
lice in order to prove his innocence.
The first ten months of the trial were
taken up with formalities connected
with the impaneling, swearing and
challenging of the jurors and with the
hearing of evidence. In order to in
duce men to serve on this jury a spe-
cial law was passed by the italian par
lament fixing their pay on this one
trial at $1.40 day. The last six
months of the trial were taken up with
speeches for the prosecution and the
defense.
Originally over fifty lawyers appear
ed for the defense, but gradually, Ell
ther because the CamOrrists had not
the money TO pay their fees or because
they pretended to be poor in order to
excite the pity of the jury, the number
Of lawyers was reduced to eighteen.
The two Camorrists De Angels and
Amodeo, who We're conceded to have
been falsely accused Of the murder by
the society in order to throw the po-
lice off the track, We're present at the
trial and We're represented by lawyers
in order to claim damages in civil ae-
llOlS d1cI Tic tIldl COuCIuleu
Infantry Guarded the Court.
Besides the speeches Of the lawyers,
there We're others by experts and alien
lists appointed both by ,the court and
the prisoners to ascertain whether the
lnformer, AbbatemaggiO, was insane.
During the trial two companies of in
fantry. 80 carabineers and fifty detec-
tfves We're constantly on duty. The
Camorra trial cost the state more than
$50O,000. This sum includes the eX-
penditure for preliminary investigation,
the maintenance of the prisoners, the
cost of their removal from Naples to
Viterbo and innumerable other items.
The minutes kept by the clerk of the
court have covered 1900 pages of
typewriter matter, and the reports of
the investigating judges filed sixty vol
umes. More than $4,000 documents