The Alaska citizen., 1912-03-11

HtHl 10 COnNltI fUIlCO alldnO ana
la other members OF the Camorra
on trial here for the murder of Gen
crimes, is foreca.ted today through
discharge OF % of the prisoners
who originally numbered AZ The
% prisoners set free were dismissed
because they had already served
five years while awaiting trial and
this term was the maximum sen
tence which could have been given
them on conviction.
Comparatively unimportant witness
es were on the stand today The only
feature of importance being vicious
clashes between the Camorrists and
Abbatemaggio, the informer, during
the taking OF testimony designed TO
show the existence of a widespread
lurid crime was the slaughter of
Cuoccolo and his wife.
HcasOn pcTlNu lFldl.
Although the trial of the AZ Cam
orists was ostensibly for the muir
der OF Gennaro Cuoccolo and his
wife at Naples, it was in reality the
supreme attempt of the Italian gov
eminent to put an end for all time
to come to the two great Italian
criminal organizations, the Camorra
Of Naples, and the Malta of Sicily,
which for half a century have been
notorious the world over Only
members of the Camorra We're in
yolved in the trial, but the govern
ment WAS confident that if score
or more of these could be heavily
punished, 1t would not only effectu-
ally end that organization, but that
the Malta of Sicily would at once
end its operations.
The trial of the AZ members of
the Camorra began March II, 1911,
and lasted until today makes the
trial one of the longest criminal
prosecutions of modern times. if
not of all times. The length of
the trial was due largely to the
fact in addition to trying to convict
the AZ Camorrists of the murder of
Cuoccolo and his wife, the govern
ment also sought to prove scores
and scores of other crimes alleged
to have been committed by the men
on trial and to show that all of
them were committed under the aus
pices OF the Camorra and that the
booty in each case was distributed
according to their own laws of di-
vision
Murdered at Naples.
The murder Of the Cuoccolos,
which constituted the specific charge
against the AZ men, occurred at
Naples, June 6, 1906. Cuoccolo had
been a former leader of the Com
ORA, and his wife known as the
beautiful Sorrentino," had been a
woman OF the halfworld Cuoccolo
fell out with Enrico Alfano the
new leader of the Camorra and was
alleged TO have been lured to the
Tore del Groco small suburb of
Naples just at the foot of Mount
Vesuvius, where he was stabbed TO
death. The same night his wife
was similarly murdered in her apart
ments in the Via Uardones in Ma
Piles, close to the royal palace.
Alamo and his confederates were
arrested at the time, but through
the intervention of Father Giro Wit
tozzi, godfather Of Alfano, who
swore to An alibi for the men, they
were all released. Later Maresci-
allo Capizzuti, a member of the
Royal Carbineri, was put to work
ON the case, and Disgusting himself,
succeeded eventually IN becoming a
member q the Camorra, of learning
all secrets, and in the end of Sc
curing a full confession from Gen
naro Abbatemaggio duplicating AL
fano and his companions in the muir
der and also duplicating as a men,
Der of the Camorra Father Giro Wit
toz2i, who because of his clerical
position, figured conspicuously
throughout the trial.
The trial itself attracted the at
tention of practically the entire civ
ilixed world, not only because of
the known fact that it was the su-
preme effort Of the Italian govern
ment to break up the Camorra and
Malta, which have spread terror
among the lower classes in all parts
OF the world, but because of the
length of the trial and the peculiar
mode of procedure.
Jury Difficult to Get.
1t was with the utmost difficulty
that Judge Blanchi was able to Sc
cure a jury, as the average Italian
citizen was confident to become a
juror in the case was equivalent to
signing death warrant at the
hands OF the Camorra. The jury,
however, was eventually secured
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