Gomorra
James Creechan, Ph.D. (Toronto, Canada) May 19, 2009 Jean‐François Gayraud includes the Camorra of Naples in his list of nine important organized crime groups of the world. He does so even though he acknowledges that the Camorra lacks the hierarchical structure characteristic of other mafia organizations included in his book.
“En la actualidad, la Camorra sigue siendo una entidad criminal atípica. A diferencia de la Cosa Nostra, realiza un reclutamiento masivo y carece de un jerarquía clara y estable. En realidad, se asemeja más a una federación de conveniencia de bandas que aparecen y desaparecen que a una entidad homogénea. El modelo sería más horizontal que piramidal. … Noexiste una estructura permanente con functiones reguladoras, capaz de cortar y controlar las explosions de violencia.”1 (Gayraud 2007)102
Roberto Saviano’s runaway bestseller, Gomorrah (Saviano 2007), similarly describes a horizontal criminal organization that facilitates the control of imports and exports through Naples and fosters profitable links with other organized crime groups in Europe and Asia. Alexander Stille’s extended essay review of Gomorrah (Stille 2008) praises Saviano for calling attention to an organized crime group that had frequently been trivialized as less important than other well‐known crime organizations:
“That it took the garbage crisis, the recent killings, and Saviano's book to make the Camorra a major issue is part ofthe tragedy. As Saviano readily acknowledges, most of the information in his book has been in the public record for years; it could be found in court records and government reports that have been piling up like the trash that reemerged in Naples in the last several weeks. Back in 1993, a report of the Italian parliament's anti-Mafia commission issued a clear warning: ‘The Camorra isunderestimated’."
Saviano’s description of Camorra clans is much more complete than the general overview found in Gayraud’s book. (pp. 98‐104) Furthermore, Gomorrah also claims that the mafia of Campania is more important than it is portrayed in El G 9 de las Mafias del Mundo, especially when Saviano describes its control of global commerce moving through Naples into the heart of Europe. Corruption and extortion tainting all commerce, as well as the dominance in politics permeates all aspects of life, and leaves the reader to only imagine the enormous profit it generates for the Camorra coffers. Saviano put it this way: 1 In fact, the Camorra continues as an atypical criminal group. Unlike the Mafia, it undertakes a widescale
recruitment and lacks a clear and stable hierarchy. In fact, in fact it most resembles a convenient confederation of bands that appear and disappear than it does a homogeneous entity. The model is more horizontal than pyramidal. … A permanent structure with regulatory functions capable of stopping short and controlling explosions of violence doesn’t exist. Draft: © James Creechan May 15, 2009 page 1 of 11
“Everything that exists passes through here. Through the port of Naples. There’s not a product, fabric, piece of plastic, toy, hammer, shoe, screwdriver, bolt, video game, jacket, pair of pants, drill, or watch that doesn’t come through here. The port of Naples is an open wound. The end point for the interminable voyage that merchandise makes…It’s a bizarre thing, hard tounderstand, yet merchandise possesses a rare magic: it manages both to be and not to be, to arrive without every reaching it’s destination, to cost the customer a great deal despite its poor quality, and to have little tax value in spite of being worth a huge amount.” (p.4-5)
Unlike the widely‐known Mafias and ‘Ndranghetta, the structure of Camorra is less ...
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