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CAMORRA

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 120 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAMORRA , a See also:

secret society of See also:Naples associated with See also:robbery, See also:blackmail and See also:murder. The origin of the name is doubtful: Probably both the word and the association were introduced into Naples by Spaniards. There is a See also:Spanish word camorra (a See also:quarrel), and similar See also:societies seem to have existed in See also:Spain See also:long before the See also:appearance of the Camorra in Naples. It was in 182o that the society first became publicly known. It was primarily social, not See also:political, and originated in the Neapolitan prisons then filled with the victims of See also:Bourbon See also:misrule and oppression, its first purpose being the See also:protection of prisoners. In or about 1830 the Camorra was carried into the See also:city by prisoners swho had served their terms. The members Worked the streets in gangs. They had See also:special methods of communicating with each other. They mewed like See also:cats at the approach df the See also:patrol, and crowed like cocks when a likely victim approached, A long sigh gave warning that the latter was not alone, a sneeze meant he was not " See also:worth See also:powder and shot," and so on. The society rapidly extended its See also:power, and its operations included See also:smuggling and blackmail of all kinds in addition to See also:ordinary road-robberies. Its See also:influence See also:grew to be considerable. Princes were in See also:league with and shared the profits of the smugglers: statesmen and dignitaries of the See also:church, all classes in fact, were involved in the society's misdeeds.

From brothels the Camorra See also:

drew huge fees, and it maintained illegal lottery offices. The See also:general disorder of Naples was so See also:great and the See also:police so badly organized that merchants were glad to engage the Camorra,te superintend the loading and unloading of merchandise. Being non-political, the See also:government did not interfere with the society; indeed its members were taken into the police service and the Camorra sometimes detected crimes which baffled the'authoritied. After 1848 the society became political. In 186o, when the constitution was granted by See also:Francis II., the camorristi then in See also:gaol were liberated in great See also:numbers. The association beanie all-powerful at elections, and general disorder reigned till 1869. Thereafter severe repressive See also:measures were taken to curtail its power. In See also:September 1877 there was a determined effort to exterminate it: fifty-seven of the most notorious camorristi being simultaneously arrested in the See also:market-See also:place. Though much of its power has gone, the Camorra has remained vigorous. It has grown upwards, and highly-placed and well-known carriorristi have entered municipal administrations and political See also:life. In 1900 revelations as to the Camorra's power were made in the course of a See also:libel suit, and these led to the See also:dissolution of the Naples See also:municipality and the See also:appointment of a royal' See also:commissioner. A government inquiry also took place.

As the result of this investigation the Honest Government League was formed, which succeeded in 1901 in entirely defeating the Camorra candidates at the municipal elections. The Camorra was divided into classes. There were the " swell mobsmen," the camorristi who dressed faultlessly and mixed with and levied fines on See also:

people of highest See also:rank. Most of these were well connected. There were the See also:lower See also:order of blackmailers who preyed on shopkeepers, boatmen, &c.; and there were political and murdering camorristi. The ranks of the society were largely recruited from the prisons. A youth had to serve for one See also:year an See also:apprenticeship so to speak to a fully admitted camorrista when he was sometimes called picciotto d' honore, and after giving See also:proof of courage and zeal became a picciotto di sgarro, one, that is, of the lowest grade of members. In some localities he was then called tamurro. The initiatory ceremony for full membership is now a See also:mock See also:duel in which the See also:arm alone is wounded. In See also:early times See also:initiation was more severe. The camorristi stood See also:round a See also:coin laid on the ground, and at a See also:signal all stooped to thrust at it with their knives while the novice had : at the same See also:time to pick the coin up, with the result that his See also:hand was generally pierced through in several places. The noviciate as picciotto di sgarro lasted three years, during which the lad had to See also:work for the camorrista who had been assigned to him as See also:master.

After initiation there was a ceremony of reception. The camorristi stood round a table on which were a See also:

dagger, a loaded See also:pistol, a See also:glass of See also:water or See also:wine supposed to be poisoned and a See also:lancet. The picciotto was brought in and one of his veinsopened '• Dipping his, hand' in Ms own See also:blood, he held it out to the camorristi, and swore to, keep the society's secrets and obey orders. 'Then he had tO 'stick, the dagger into the table, See also:cock the pistol, and hold 'the 'glass to, his ,mouth to show his readiness to See also:die for the society. His master now bade him kneel before the dagger, placed his right hand on the lad's See also:head while with the See also:left he fired•:off the pistol into the See also:air and smashed the See also:poison-glass. He then drew the dagger from the table and presented it to the new comrade and embraced him, as did all the others. The' Camorra was divided into centres, each under a See also:chief. There: were twelve at Naples. The society seems at one time to have alwaysr had a" ,supreme chief. The last known was Aniello Ansiello, who finally disappeared and was never arrested. The'chief.of every centre was elected by the members of it. All the earnings' of the 'centre were paid to and then distributed by him.' The cameirristi'employ a whole vocabulary of cant terms, Their 'chief ismasto or sImasto,"" See also:sir master." When a, member meets him he salutes with the phrase Haste, volite niente?

(" 'Master, : do you Vivant anything? "). The members are addressed' simply a. si. See See also:

Monnier, La Camorra (See also:Florence, r863) ; Umilta, Camorra et See also:Mafia (NettehAtet; 4878); Alongi, La Camorra (189o); C. W. Heekethorin Secret Societies of All Ages (See also:London, 1897) ; $lasio, .Usi e eostumi del Carnorriste (Naples, 1897).

End of Article: CAMORRA

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