Cosa Nostra News

Roberto Saviano wrote an acclaimed best seller -- and has lived under severe restrictions ever since.  REVISED In October 2006, precisely 10 years ago yesterday, Roberto Saviano, the award-winning Italian writer who lives under police protection, received the phone call that changed his life. Saviano's widely lauded  Gomorrah  was issued earlier that year in his homeland by Mondadori, one of Italy's top publishing houses. (It wouldn't be available in the U.S. until 2008.) It was the source material for an acclaimed film, an award-winning play and a television series in production today . The Camorra, the Mafia in Naples -- the inner working of which Saviano's book had laid bare --initially chose to ignore the writer, reportedly under the belief that simply shooting him dead in the street wasn't worth the heat from both law enforcement and the media, which are feared equally in Italy, unlike in the U.S. But Saviano's influence continued to grow, whic...

Scene from the television show. Key character, Ciro, on left. Robert Saviano's Gomorrah correctly depicts the Camorra — Italy's Neapolitan Mafia — as having a horizontal structure. This simple fact plays a key role in the plot machinations of the television show. The Camorra, established in Campania and Naples, may be older and even larger than Italy's other Mafias, with its roots possibly dating back to the 16th century. The vertical Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian Mafia and the proper name of America's Mafia ) is run by bosses with a hierarchy in place. There's a "commission" to help, literally, organize crime, specifically, inter-family criminal activity so wars don't break out. It was quite effective, in America, anyway.

The town apparently doesn't suffer amateur buglers  either. This is why I need an editor! The municipality of Corleone, Sicily, is no more. And it's the Mafia's fault, the Italian government proclaimed . Other local administrations tied to the Camorra and Ndrangheta  -- Arzano, near Naples, and Calabria's Bovalino and Tropea -- also were done away with. The towns will be administered by a government-appointed commissioner until new elections are held, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government revealed on August 10.

Vince Cassel may have thought he was joking.  The Italian voice-over industry acts like the Mafia, French actor Vincent Cassel said. Now, he's probably using hyperbole to draw attention to an issue that annoys him. I am not for one minute suggesting what he said is true! Not at all..... But if one considers what he says in light of what we know about the mob's infiltration of labor, then the Italian film dubbing industry is actually the perfect example of how the Mafia takes over entire industries by controlling the labor force via unions. Still, I am not saying this is the case. Not at all. Consider this an educational exercise -- and that only. I mean nothing more or less.... 

The book mentioned in this story, which is the source of the allegations mentioned below, probably is a hoax. I'd like to know: Who published it? It seems too consumer-friendly, and in my mind appears more like the fraudulent efforts of a savvy marketer, assisted by attention-seeking newspapers. Perhaps ISIS itself is perpetuating a hoax. These suicidal murderers have an affinity for propaganda. So let us move under the pretext that this "manual of hate" truly exists....and accept this at face value.... New ISIS propganda details a "brutal plan to march through western Europe and take control of Italy" claim new reports. The hate manual, titled The Black Flags from Rome, ranks several of Italy's Mafias as ISIS militants' most feared adversaries -- yet the group seems unaware of Rome's own homegrown Mafia.

Genovese mobster Benny "Eggs" was a patriot.  He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross   and an Air Medal with four Oak Leaf clusters and three Battle Stars.  Recently, I came across an article about the Mafia that is so inflammatory, I initially decided not to even write about it. But there is free speech in this country... I write this blog to examine all mob-related topics and news that pique my interest , so I realized that I have no reason not to shine my spotlight here. Now, I find myself for the first time in the position of defending Cosa Nostra.

Italian Law Enforcement Officials Call It Italy's Fifth Major Mafia Group Mafia Capitale is based in Rome. In a story posted this week about Matteo Messina Denaro ,  The Independent notes that Italian law enforcement has uncovered what is believed to be Italy's fifth major Mafia group. It's based in Rome. The organized crime group is less violent prone than the traditional Mafias and seems to largely rely on corruption. In terms of age, it goes back "at least three administrations."

Bet you didn't know Sicily has two Mafias. La Stidda ("star") There's Cosa Nostra, of course. And there's La Stidda (Sicilian for "the star"), a Sicilian-based Mafia group that's a direct rival to Cosa Nostra. All members wear the same star-shaped tattoo. La Stidda was created by "Men of Honor" (members of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra) who broke apart following the murder of Mafia-boss Giuseppe Di Cristina during a major Mafia war of the early 1980s. In addition to the Cosa Nostra , there are two other historical Mafias in Italy: the Neapolitan Camorra and the Calabrian Ndrangheta. A fourth also is recognized, the Apulian Sacra Corona Unita, which was originally formed in the 1970s to rival the traditional Camorra. La Stidda is something like Sicily's version of the Sacra Corona Unita. As noted in Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic (Alexander Stille), it largely consists of ...

Mafia violence is on the wane. The Italian mafia is on the march, infiltrating new sectors of the country's economy, according to a new report. Newspaper articles have been seeking to offset this news with word that the Mafia has been keeping a lid on violence -- as if taking a page from its American brethren, which no longer sanctions murder. The report, by the government’s anti-mafia directorate (the Dia), adds that while Sicily’s Cosa Nostra faces a troublesome ongoing restructuring and the Naples-based Camorra is getting major attention from law enforcement, the Calabrian Ndrangheta has consolidated its position as the most powerful criminal organization in all of Italy, if not the world.

Did billionaire Monaco heiress mastermind her mother's murder? From the Daily Mail : Smartly dressed in elegant cocktail attire, the smiling couple look ready for an evening out. Now billionaire Monaco heiress Sylvia Pastor, 53, and Cambridge University graduate Wojciech Janowski, 65, - pictured together at a Monaco state event in 2003 - are in custody, suspected of 'masterminding' the assassination of her equally wealthy mother . Police suspect the pair ordered the Mafia-style hit. Mr Janowski has been Poland's Honorary Consul in Monaco since 2007

Iovine also turned in one of his lawyers. Judges in Naples accepted bribes to acquit a Camorra boss  of murders he had confessed to carrying out, according to the boss in question, who is now an informant. "There was a whole system set up in the court in Naples. Three times the clan paid to ensure an acquittal," Antonio Iovine , the informant, told anti-mafia judges this past week in testimony, adding that each murder acquittal cost around $340,000.

Camorrista drawing  from 1905. The  Camorra  and tattoos go together like 1920s Chicago and the Tommy gun. But members of the gang also dress and even accessorize to trumpet their affiliations. In the 1980s, bosses in the Mazzarella clan, a Camorrist faction in Naples, wore rings in the shape of a lion's head. Today, the distinctive accessories are even more diverse — even in prisons. Mafia informer Nicola Cangiano, a former member of the Casalesi gang (the one that "O'Ninno,"   Antonio Iovine , belonged to), told anti-mafia prosecutors how the dress code imposed by the clan is strict even behind bars. "You can tell the men in the Sagaria clan apart from the others by what they wear," he said. "They all wear Samsonite shoes, designer clothes and even cashmere socks. They still get their salaries from the gang — even on the inside." The Schiavone group has its own rules when it comes to clothing. "They all wear Hogan ...

The grinning man with nothing to be happy about:  Antonio Iovine, ex-Camorra boss, killed so many he can't even recall how many. According to the  Telegraph , former Camorra boss  Antonio Iovine , known as O'Ninno (The Baby), killed so many people in the past 30 years he can't even offer a figure. Imprisoned since his arrest, Iovine began offering videoconferenced testimony this past Saturday from his prison cell to a court in Caserta . “I have committed so many murders, I don’t remember them all,” the 49-year-old former boss said during four hours of testimony. Iovine had been a wanted fugitive for 14 years before being captured in 2010 while living in a hideout in Casal di Principe outside Naples. His recent decision to turn informer, or “pentito,” as they are called in Italian (repentants), was said to be rocking the very foundation of Italy’s political establishment. O'Ninno has been making claims of widespread collusion between the Mafia and politi...

Smiles Everyone, Smiles! The Casalesi Camorra boss The following story regarding the capture of the first Casalesi Camorra boss to flip includes a wealth of details about the man who folded under the pressure of solitary confinement. The information to which O'Ninno, or "Baby Face," as he is known, is privy can “make the Italian political and business worlds tremble,” world-famous journalist Roberto Saviano told The Daily Beast, which obtained a copy of the mob boss's court testimony. O'Ninno, known widely as a bookkeeper for the Naple-based Mafia outfit, was also a quite prolific killer. “I started killing in the '80s,” he said, and his "hit lists" included police officers, bodyguards, opposition clan members, and "people in discotheques, on lonely roads and in broad daylight." He also took his wife and daughter with him as far away as Brazil and Portugal to participate in killings, "while they enjoyed what amounted to f...

Antonio Iovine, first boss of the Casalesi clan to flip. A Camorra boss of the powerful Casalesi clan is collaborating with investigators in Naples, according to published reports. Antonio Iovine, known as o'ninno or "the baby" due to his youthful face and swift climb up the ladder -- he is one of four bosses of the Casalesi clan -- all of which have been jailed for life following a major trial in 2008, began working with anti-Mafia prosecutors earlier this month. Iovine, 49, reportedly led the business side of the clan's activities. The Casalesi is the clan our roving correspondent Charles DeLucca has been reporting on for this blog .

Helen Pastor died today. REVISED: Hélène Pastor, 77, who was known to be close to Monaco’s Royal family, died this morning following the brutal May 6 attack in Nice on her and her chauffeur/right-hand man who died four days after the shooting. The two were shot outside the L’Archet Hospital in the south of France. Pastor died this morning from injuries. Although she awoke from an induced coma several days ago, her condition deteriorated overnight. A report in Le Figaro said investigators suspected that one of Italy’s Mafias , either the Ndrangheta or the Camorra , was behind the attack. Both crime gangs are said to be building property portfolios on the French Riviera as they seek to expand their foothold. Detectives believe the Mafia was trying to muscle in on the Pastor family's holdings, which include buildings worth billions in the area.

From the website Italy Chronicles , which reports Italian news in English (and is poorly titled, from a grammatical viewpoint), we offer this story regarding the opinions of Father Tonino Dell’Olio , the Roman Catholic priest who runs the international arm of the Italian anti-mafia association Libera . Father Dell’Olio pulls no punches, saying Italy's media, which regularly touts the defeat of the Mafia, is outright wrong in that the country's Cosa Nostra, Ndrangheta and Camorra all continue to thrive and expand -- and are in fact global entities. Furthermore, he notes that while Italy’s politicians love to tout the huge sums confiscated in asset seizures, the act of taking money and property from mobsters does not diminish the organizations to which they belong. The following was extracted from a larger story that you can read in its entirety via the hyperlink here:  Italy’s Mafia Issue – Is Mafia Power Growing or Diminishing? | Italy Chronicles : Preparations fo...

The Local : A highly organized crime ring is behind the distribution of stolen and fake anti-cancer drugs throughout Europe, an Italian official told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Domenico Di Giorgio, the director of the prevention of counterfeiting at the Italian Medicines Agency, the pharmaceutical watchdog, said that “organized crime is certainly involved” in the racket, which has raised concern among pharmaceutical professionals that the drugs may be inefficient or even deadly. Di Giorgio's agency is currently carrying out an investigation into the matter along with the Italian antifraud squad, the Nuclei Antisofisticazioni e Sanità Carabinieri.

Da Ciro, one of 23 restaurants seized by the police in Rome. "Buy everything." --An Italian mob boss caught on wiretap in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell; he was giving an order to a lieutenant who'd just been told to immediately go to East Germany. The International New York Times  reported that harsher laws in Italy have led criminal rings to seek new territory abroad. In this year alone, according to the report: "Italian officials seized € 51 million, or $70 million, in mob properties and other assets in Rome, providing a small glimpse of the legal business interests that southern clans control in the capital." The "mob economy" as Italian officials call it, "has rapidly expanded across Europe."

Louis Ferrante: TV host, best-selling author, lecturer, former gangster. In preparation for Cosa Nostra News  correspondent Charley DeLucca 's upcoming review of the debut episode of Lou Ferrante 's new television series, Inside the Gangsters' Code , which focused on the Camorra , we thought we'd provide you with some insight into this particular group that makes up Italy's three Mafias (well, four maybe ). 1: The Camorra is one of Italy’s oldest criminal organizations, dating back at least to the 18th century. (Ed. Note. The original Camorra was the oldest, but the group dissipated and reformed following WWII.) 2: The name Camorra comes probably comes from a combination of “capo” (boss) and “morra” (an old Neapolitan street gambling game). Control of gambling houses may have been the gang’s first business.