The Holbrook news., 1912-02-16

1 Camorrists of high and low degree, good Italians and bad, sachems and
 outlaws. They took Fucci, the chief, and De Marinis, whose insolence had drawn down the lightning; they took Prof. Rapi, treasurer of the Camorra and a district leader of the old school, a gambler, bon vivant, scholar of a sort; the great Erricone Alfano was arrested in New York. Others, too, were taken in the net-more negli- gible men, thieves, bad husbands, day sleepers, pickpockets. kidnapers, and rogues of the Chiaia and the Vicaria the larva of the jails and the slums. That romance might not wholly die. they netted a blithe girl of Ma ples, Maria Stendardo, and kept her to decorate the iron cage of Viterbo.
 For five years these prisoners lay in irons. Many of them died. Mean while the kings carabineers, urged by the relentless duke of Aosta, made strong the case against them. Day by day the astounding Abbatemoggio. the traitor, revealed new secrets of the so- ciety.
 Twenty of the prisoners were indict- ed for these various crimes disclosed by Abbatemaggio. One after the oth- CT they were bought up and tried in various courts. One after the other they were acQuitted-ands sent back to jail. In only one case did the cara bineers secure a conviction on the evi- dence furnished by the informer, and that conviction has been Quashed by the court of appeals
 Five are charged with the murder of Cuocolo and his wife The others are being tried for criminal association in other words, for belonging to the Camorra. The maximum penalty for this offense by Italian law. four years Imprisonment. The accused men have already been in prison i've years.
 Origin of the camorra.
 Camorra comes from kamora-con- testation. The word that gave it's name to the formidable and long establish ed cryptogamous plant of Neapolitan life is Castilian neologism imported into Naples through the Spanish dom- ination.
 If we think of the Iberian benin sula, that country of bristly sierras and deep valleys arranged in the shape of saw, full of precipices and. therefore. very rich in natural hiding places-if we consider the peculiar physical features of these regions, we can easily understand how they af- forded the best opportunities for the thriving of the gamur Spanish brig ands of the sierras), baneful foreruD- ners and ancestors of the dreaded Camorrists.
 Not passerby nor vehicle escaped | their watchful eye and their fierce | claws, SO that travelling or going from | one place to another or business was impossible for any one without shar- ing with the ferocious watchers of the sierras either the money he had with him or the profits of the business that had taken him on his journey. It was, therefore. necessary to come to terms with the brigands; so much so that in time a regular tariff of Camor- ra dues was agreed upon with the laborers, and shepherds, the miners, etc.. and with the mail coaches for the passage of the travellers. according to their social importance and standing.
 Whenever there was difference of opinion upon the division of some thing. the Camorrist intervened and pronounced his decision-so much to the one. so much to the other; the re- the best share. of course, be- longs to the judge by right of Ca norra-"
 Very different from their Andalusian ancestors are their present degenerate descendants. The modern honorable society draws its income chiefly from .heft, from the exploitation of women, rom organized raids on gambling houses, from usury extort0d from rich young men who have. been purpoSsly ed astray