Scampia feud
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The Scampia feud (in Italian: faida di Scampia) was a feud between the Camorra gangs in the neapolitan quartiere of Scampia and it broke out in 2004 and 2005. The fight was between the Di Lauro clan, from Secondigliano, and the so-called "secessionists" (Italian "scissionisti"), a breakaway fraction from the once all-powerful Di Lauro clan in the northern suburbs of Naples that tried to assert its control over drugs and prostitution rackets in the area.[1]
Paolo Di Lauro, head of the Camorra clan that runs the northern suburbs, was in charge of a tightly managed drug empire that imported cocaine and heroin and distributed it through an army of dealers. Di Lauro granted neighborhood ringleaders a certain amount of autonomy in exchange for the monopoly and cuts of the proceeds. He went into hiding in 2002 as authorities closed in. He left the business to Vincenzo Di Lauro, one of his ten sons. After the arrest of Vincenzo in 2003 Cosimo Di Lauro took charge.[2][3]
Cosimo Di Lauro wanted to centralize the drug dealing operation that had been run as a franchise in which dealers paid the Di Lauros a fee for doing business and were allowed buy the drugs from any available source.[3] The young Di Lauro removed older gangsters and replaced them with young toughs new to the business. In revolt, a faction now known as the "secessionists" challenged the Di Lauros in October 2004. One of the local dealers, Raffaele Amato, disputed the new rules, fled to Spain and organized a revolt against his former bosses. In Scampia, they are known as the Spaniards.[4] The two bands fought each other with a brutality that stunned even hardened Carabinieri.[5]
Italy realised the feud had got out of hand with the death of Gelsomina Verde. The girl, recently turned 21, was abducted and brutally beaten, probably in an effort to get her to disclose the whereabouts of a gang member who was a friend of her, possibly her lover. She was shot in the neck and her body put in a car that was set on fire.[6]
The tragic death of an innocent girl caused widespread public revulsion and led to a major crackdown by the authorities.[1] The governor of the Campania region (of which Naples is the capital) Antonio Bassolino said: "This challenge must be met and the state must pay attention." Two days later, Home Minister Giuseppe Pisanu dispatched 325 extra police to a city that already has a higher ratio of police to people than any other in the country. On December 7, 2004, an operation involving 1,500 police netted 52 suspected gangsters including Ciro De Lauro.[6][1]
His brother Cosimo Di Lauro was arrested in January 2005 and the head of one of the rival gangs, Raffaele Amato, a month later.[5][7] On September 16, 2005, police arrested Paolo Di Lauro in a modest apartment in Secondigliano, on the city's poor and depressing northern outskirts.[8][9][10] He was condemned to 30 years for drug trafficking.[11] Two weeks later Paulo Di Lauro publicly kissed Vincenzo Pariante – one of the bosses of the "secessionists" – during a session in court. Investigators interpreted the gesture as a sign that the feud had ended.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Naples police in huge mafia swoop, BBC News, December 7, 2004
- ^ Gang's Deadly Feud Plagues Naples, Los Angeles Times, February 17, 2005
- ^ a b In Naples, a Mob Family Feud, The Washington Post, February 8, 2005
- ^ Weekends turn bloody in Naples mafia war, The Guardian, December 18 2004
- ^ a b Italian Police Arrest Fugitive Crime Leader in Naples Gang War, The New York Times, September 17, 2005
- ^ a b ‘The blood is running': Mafia wars erupt again, The Independent, December 8, 2004
- ^ 'Naples crime boss' held in Spain, BBC News, February 28, 2005
- ^ Criminal boss is captured in Italy, International Herald Tribune, September 17, 2005
- ^ (Italian) Arrestato boss Di Lauro "o milionario", La Repubblica, September 16, 2005
- ^ (Italian) Napoli: arrestato il boss Paolo Di Lauro, Corriere della Sera, September 18, 2005
- ^ (Italian) Giornata di sangue a Napoli: tre omicidi, Corriere della Sera, March 15, 2007
