The Camorra from Naples/Campania region, News & discussion

information that comes in the last hours talking about a massive and big opration against camorra members in spain...

arrests in spain, italy and germany ...millions of euro were seizd , it's against an international drug smuggling network that the camorra was running with french ,bulgarian and colombian criminals........

Got a message from a friend:


the shorter the title:


the better he said!


no Battaglia


no guerra



Napoli "Mattanza"


I think he is right:


looks better



Come on Napoli



you are not enough in the news


Rispetto

newspapers in london claim that Mr Scaramella was shot before two years by the camorra in london beacuse he is an investigating magistrate who has looked at links between the Russian and Italian mafia.

maybe the camorra killed the russian ex. k.g.b man?

U.S. link to Litvinenko affair

Wayne Madsen
Online Journal
Monday, December 18, 2006

Mario Scaramella, the Italian liaison for polonium-210 poisoned ex-Russian KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, is connected to an array of companies, smuggling operations, and right-wing politicians, according to press reports in Italy.

Scaramella ran an organization called the Environmental Crime Prevention Program (ECCP) from his base in Naples in the Campania Region. He is politically connected to Campania officials, his uncle having once served as the president of Campania. He has also been linked to activities of the powerful Camorra criminal syndicate in Naples.

In 2004, Scaramella's ECCP established a presence in the tiny Republic of San Marino, known for its tight banking secrecy laws. The ECCP proclaims itself as "permanent intergovernmental conference" with rotating presidencies by such countries as Samoa and Angola. Scaramella concocted a story that "KGB agents" were active in San Marino, but it now appears that he sabotaged an international law enforcement investigation of Russian-Israeli weapons nuclear smugglers that were using San Marino as a base. That weapons smuggling operation involved other Russian-Israeli Mafia agents and operatives in Zurich. Fugitive American-Russian-Israeli Mafia capo Marc Rich (former major client of Vice President Dick Cheney's indicted former Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby) maintains his headquarters near Zurich.

In May 2002, he attended a top-secret conclave of Italian intelligence officials in the town of Priverno, south of Rome. Scaramella attended under the affiliation of "Secretary General of the Intergovernmental Program for Environmental Security.” Also in attendance was Franco Frattini, Security and Intelligence Minister in the Silvio Berlusconi government; Mario Mori, chief of SISDE (the civilian intelligence service), Niccolo Pollari, director of SISMI (military intelligence), and Luigi Ramponi, the former chief of SISMI. Pollari was recently fired and is under criminal investigation for his role in the CIA's kidnapping and rendition of Abu Omar, an Egyptian imam, from a Milan street in 2003. Pollari's deputy, Gen. Nicola Calipari, was assassinated in March 2005 by U.S. military forces in Baghdad while on a rescue mission for an Italian journalist taken hostage by insurgents. Calipari's widow, Rosa Maria Calipari, is now a Senator in the governing left-center coalition of Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Scaramella and Litvinenko were involved in political dirty tricks operations against Prodi. Scaramella also targeted Alfonso Pecararo Scanio, the leader of the Italian Green Party and now Minister of the Environment) and Antonio Bassolini, the current President of Campania. As with the law enforcement investigators in San Marino, Scaramella accused Pecararo Scanio and Bassolini of being involved with the "KGB" to cover his own illicit activities. The District Attorney for Reggio Calabria, Alberto Cisterna, and a Parliamentary Committee has a case file on the illegal dumping of toxic waste in which Scaramella's name appears as a suspect in the sinking of the "Rigel," which was loaded with toxic waste, off the Calabrian coast.

Scaramella's reported involvement with the Imam kidnapping confirms earlier reports that the CIA (or more likely, the parallel Pentagon operation established by Donald Rumsfeld, Stephen Cambone, and Douglas Feith) was assisted in the operation by private Italian intelligence agents linked to SISMI and SISDE. Scaramella reportedly had a fleet of SUVs, Range Rovers, and well-armed private security guards at his disposal. The Naples Camorra is also reportedly now under the operational control of the Russian-Israeli Mafia.

Scaramella has also been linked to the operational chief for the kidnapping and rendition of Abu Omar, Robert Seldon Lady, reputedly the CIA station chief in Milan. His official cover was reportedly Political Military Officer at the U.S. Consulate, a portfolio not usually assigned to a consulate but only to embassies or special missions. Lady and his CIA associates are now wanted by Italian authorities in the kidnapping. Lady has ties to CIA contra activities in Central America in the 1980s. Lady has also been linked to the Rocco Martino-Manucher Ghorbanifar bogus Niger "yellowcake" uranium documents used to justify the U.S. attack on Iraq. Martino is an Italian intelligence broker who tried to frame the French in the yellowcake affair and Ghorbanifar, a native of Iran, is a longtime agent of influence and back channel liaison to Iran for the Israeli Mossad. Lady retired from the CIA in 2004 and departed Italy in 2005. If there are now links between the CIA and organized crime, it marks a dramatic return to the past for the agency. In the 1950s and 1960s, the CIS coordinated a number of its activities with members of the Italian Mafia.

Lady is reportedly spending much of his time in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, a place where he was active in the Contra affair in the 1980s at the same time John Negroponte, now Director of National Intelligence, served as ambassador to Honduras and effectively ran the CIA's death squads in the country. Lady also reportedly maintains a residence in Abita Springs, Louisiana, near New Orleans. During the Iran-Contra affair, a scandal engineered partly by Ghorbanifar, Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, current National Security Council official Elliott Abrams, and Michael Ledeen, now of the American Enterprise Institute, Lady ran Contra support operations from the Honduran military base at Ojo de Agua, 30 miles northwest of Tegucigalpa.

Scaramella apparently used his environmental organization as a way to establish close contact with various Green Party officials. He also has a past connection with Michael Penders, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) legal counsel for criminal enforcement and now President of Environmental Security, Inc. (ESI), headquartered in the Willard Office Building in downtown Washington, just one block from the White House. The firm also maintains an office in Manassas, Virginia. According to the Italian magazine,Panorama, Scaramella boasted of his contacts with Penders.Penders' biographyon the ESI web site states, "In 2004, Mr. Penders chaired a U.S.-Israel group of experts that developed the draft international standard for Security Management Systems (SMS). Last year, ESI led pilot studies testing the integrated SMS standard at critical infrastructure facilities in the US, Israel, and Italy."

ESI's websitehas the conference agenda for a Nov. 15 and 16, 2000 conference in New York City on "Combating International Eco-Crime in a Global Economy: The Use of Technologies and Information Management to Monitor Compliance with International Agreements, Prosecute Environmental Crime, and Reform Environmental Law and Trade." Penders and Scaramella both spoke at the conference. Their biographies are included:

"Michael Penders is the president of Environmental Security International (ESI), a new company with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Phoenix, and Rome. ESI conducts investigations, implements environmental management and security systems, and offers consulting services involving the application of new technologies, policies, legislation, and training to improve environmental performance. Previously, Mr. Penders was the Director of Legal Counsel with EPA's Office of Criminal Enforcement."

"Dr. Mario Scaramella, a professor at the University of Naples in Italy and Secretary General of the ECPP, described the mission of the ECPP as providing environmental protection and security through technology on a global basis, particularly for developing nations. ECPP has offices at the Fucino Space Center in Italy, the largest civilian space center in the world. ECPP has used aerial surveillance and the remote sensing capabilities of satellites to detect environmental crimes in Eastern and Southern Europe and eco-terrorism in Central Africa and South America."

The UK's Daily Mail is reporting that Scaramella has "deep knowledge" of nuclear materials and where they are located. In addition, Scaramella claims a connection to Colombia. He claims he was a professor of environmental law at Externado University and the University of Nuestra Senora del Rosario in Bogota, Colombia from 1996 to 2000. He also claims to have been a professor during the same time at the University of Naples. The University of Naples says it has no record of Scaramella being a professor at the institution. He also claims to have been a visiting professor at Stanford and was the director of a Stanford NATO program that visited Lithuania. (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the former Provost of Stanford). In 2002, Scaramella says he was in charge of a training program for the Colombian police and was a visiting professor at Greenwich University in London.

The links between Litvinenko, Scaramella, Boris Berezovsky, and other elements of the weapons smuggling Russian-Israeli Mafia and Litvinenko's poisoning on Nov. 1 in London, just a week prior to the November 7 elections in the United States, may indicate that a much larger plot was afoot than in just the corporate media fantasy that Vladimir Putin silenced a political opponent. If Litvinenko and Scaramella were involved in the smuggling of dangerous radioactive material for an early November "surprise" designed to influence the American election and an "accident" arranged by Russian intelligence resulted in the plot's failure, President Putin, if he is knowledgeable at all about the case, deserves the utmost thanks and gratitude of the American people for helping to expose what may be a key operational element of a failed attack on the U.S. or U.S. interests abroad and other false flag operations directed against the United States, including 9/11.

NEAPOLITAN MAFIA: GOODS SEIZED TO CASALESI FAMILY, 10 M EURO(AGI) - Naples, Dec. 28 - Napoli ati-mafia investigation unit has seized goods worth around 10 million euro to Cipriano Chianese, an entrepreneur from Caserta who works in the waste disposal sector. According to the investigators the man is a friend of the Casalesi mafia family. The seized goods are some companies, one of these companies works in the sector of waste disposal in Campania and southern Lazio. Police have also seized a 18 meter boat.

it is once said that russian unknown pepole left 20 nuclear warheads in napoli port for the camorra to pick it up....

there is information about nuclear suitcases that are in the hands of italian mafioso (the nadrangheta also trafficing heavy weapons).....

so maybe the russian ex k.g.b man was a problem for these papole....who knows.....................

The shoot out in March 2004 had hilarious developments for Guzzanti's ridiculous Mitrokhin commission. Scaramella, a self-styled "professor" later claimed that he was actually checking out an antenna which he alleged was to be used by the evil Ruskies to contaminate the Bay of Naples by setting off a dozen atomic weapons (apparently without a nuclear explosion) that had been dumped there by a Russian submarine. Supposedly this event would be blamed on the NATO. The Russians thought the accusations were a bad joke. The four camorra members involved in the shoot out were actually involved in transporting weapons. They did not shoot at Scaramella to take him out but apparently shot at the two penitentiary cops who were there to meet Scaramella for reasons as yet unknown. One of the members of the camorra was wounded and quickly arrested. The arms were sequestered.


to really understand this kind a smugglers i recomment to google on the in 1995 murdered KGB senior lieutenant Grigory Gusyatinsky (Grisha Severney)


and the recently killed former KGB general Trofimov



google away and you will find hours of reading

12 Marzo 2004
Scoperto nelle campagne di Ercolano un deposito di armi della camorra. Il ritrovamento è avvenuto dopo una sparatoria iniziata da camorristi del clan Ascione contro alcune persone che si sono trovate presso il deposito. Il gruppo contro cui i camorristi hanno aperto il fuoco era formato da Mario Scaramella, un consulente della Commissione parlamentare per il caso Mitrokhin, esperto di servizi segreti e collaboratore dell’Ente parco Vesuvio contro l’abusivismo edilizio, e da due agenti in borghese della polizia penitenziaria che hanno risposto al fuoco ferendo il camorrista Vincenzo Spagnolo, ora in arresto.

pup how you doing man?

you know who are the napolitan families that dealing with heavy weapons? i heard about a napolitan camorra family in zurich that sold rockets to a spanish terror oraganiztion from catlunia...in return the organiztion gave tons of cocain to this family....


intersting stuff....

suspect members of the camorra were involved in money laundring in the "casino di venzia" ...the onwer of the casino said that the suspect men were betting huge sums of money each time...in one case the suspects paid with stolen cheques.

Casino di Venezia owner says accused had mafia connections
by di-ve news

VALLETTA, Malta (di-ve news) -- January 05, 2007 -- 1900CET --Fernando Orlandi, owner of the Casino di Venezia in Vittoriosa, told the Court how he suspected that a group of Italians who used to frequent the Casino betting huge sums of money, had connections with the Italian Camorra.

The Italian witness, who had allegedly fell victim to fraud and money laundering, was giving his testimony in front of Magistrate Miriam Haymen, in the compilation of evidence against two Italians and a Slovenian who are being charged with money laundering, fraud, criminal connections and falsification of thousands of liri.

Casino di Venezia proprietor Orlandi, who in his own words "fell victim to a colossal truffa", told the Court how the accused -- Fabio Zulian, 42, Gaetano Caramazza, 58 and Slovenian Nevio Barut, 44 - formed part of a larger group which he suspected had close connections with the Italian Camorra, renowned for its mafia connections.

Orlandi added that on a particular day, a Romanian casino owner who happened to be at Casino di Venezia, advised him not to trust them because they were dangerous people. Despite the advise however, Orlandi accepted to be paid in cheques, which later resulted were stolen from Ponte Greco in Naples, Italy, in December 2002 after verification with a Bank in San Marino.

The defence however questioned Casino di Venezia's operate, pointing out that the Casino had had its licence suspended, then granted again only weeks later. Defence lawyer Jose Herrera also alleged that the witness, not only did not fall victim to fraud but he himself forms part of this mechanism as administrator of the Vittoriosa Gaming, saying that instead, the Italian proprietor should be sitting on the bench of the accused.

Herrera also told the Court how a number of Italians used to win large sums of money from the Casino di Venezia only to find out that the cheques were unexchangeable when they go to the bank.

Barut, was the only one of the three who pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him and was provisionally discharged. The other two Italians are also being accused with money laundering and with falsification public documents.

Superintendent Alexandra Farrugia Mamo led the prosecution while lawyers Joe Brincat, Stefano Filletti, Jose Herrera, Veronique Dalli and Duncan Borg appeared for the accused. Lawyer Giannella Caruana Curran appeared as civil part for the Vittoriosa Gaming Ltd.

Pasquale Aiello, 49, was killed in his 72 year old mother's house in Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples. The victim, known to the police, was believed to be a member of the D'Alessandro clan

NAPLES. AMBUSH: PREVIOUS OFFENDER AND PASSER-BY WOUNDED
(AGI) - Naples, Jan.23 - A previous offender and a passer-by (a woman) were wounded today in a Camorra mob ambush inside a bar in Cardito, near Naples. A man walked in and fired some shots on Antonio Iorio, aged 43, hitting his leg. Even N.G., aged 28, was wounded in the foot. The man has been hospitalised at the San Giovanni Bosco hospital, the woman at Frattaminore hospital.

the camorra did another amazing thing...

italian media report says that camorra built entire city near naples port...
naples mayor said that he did not know nothing about it (hahahahah) ...electricity and water and all the camorra city project made by camorra insiders in the city and country authorities

the appartments were already sold to civiliens...

unbeliveble.....

italian police arrested today 70 pepole from Sarno and Panico clans of the camorra.

the suspects arrested on charges :murders, drug smuggling, extortion.

In naples it seems to heat up again:

CRONACA InviaStampaAd Arzano padre e figlio ammazzati a colpi di kalashnikov
A Somma Vesuviana un cadavere in strada: gli hanno sparato
Napoli, la camorra torna a colpire
Uccise tre persone in poche ore


L'agenzia di scommesse dove è avvenuto il duplice omicidio
NAPOLI - La camorra torna a sparare. Due agguati a Napoli con l'uccisione di tre persone. Nel primo, ad Arzano, sono stati freddati a colpi di kalashnikov Andrea e Salvatore Puzone, padre e figlio, rispettivamente di 48 e 23 anni. Quando è scattato l'agguato, i due si trovavano nel centro scommesse 'Star Price Italia', di cui erano titolari. Il terzo omicidio, invece, poco dopo le 16 a Somma Vesuviana, sempre nel Napoletano. Giovanni Citano, 28 anni, è stato ucciso con diversi colpi di arma da fuoco, di cui uno alla nuca.

Sul luogo del duplice omicidio si è creata subito una forte tensione. Una trentina di persone si sono raccolte sul posto, con i famigliari che gridavano e cercavano di vedere i cadaveri. In base ai primi riscontri, il padre aveva un precedente per porto abusivo e detenzione di arma mentre il figlio era incensurato. Probabilmente i due erano affiliati del clan Moccia di Afragola.

Gli inquirenti hanno cercato di ricostruire la dinamica dell'omicidio, ma senza l'aiuto di testimoni. Probabilmente, padre e figlio erano andati a bere un caffè nel bar che si trova di fronte al centro di raccolta scommesse, in via Luigi Rocco, strada centrale di Arzano. Appena sono rientrati nei locali dello 'Star Price Italia' è scattato l'agguato. Sul posto sono arrivati i killer, non è ancora chiaro se a bordo di un'auto o di una moto. Una volta all'interno hanno esploso numerosi colpi di kalashnikov e di pistola di grosso calibro, forse semiautomatica, uccidendo sul colpo padre e figlio.

Il terzo omicidio è avvenuto in un alveo di Somma Vesuviana: la vittima è Giovanni Citano, 28 anni. A dare l'allarme sono stati alcuni contadini del posto, che hanno allertato le forze dell'ordine segnalando di aver sentito alcuni colpi di pistola ed aver notato poi il corpo di un uomo riverso a terra, in via Alveo Spirito Santo. Fonti investigative riferiscono che l'uomo era vicino al clan Sarno, attivo nell'area vesuviana.

(6 marzo 2007)

Stampa questo articolo


Ucciso “'o barone”, Napoli è in guerra

Un solo colpo di pistola alla testa, così è stato ammazzato Ciro Giuliano, 50 anni, appartenente alla nota famiglia di Forcella e considerato camorrista di rango

NAPOLI – Ciro Giuliano, 50 anni, appartenente alla nota famiglia di Forcella è stato ucciso stasera in un agguato avvenuto in via Sant'Alfonso dè Liguori a Napoli. Sul luogo è intervenuto la polizia. Si tratta del terzo omicidio avvenuto oggi a Napoli.
Ciro Giuliano, soprannominato 'o barone, cugino dell’ex boss di Forcella Luigi Giuliano, era considerato un esponente di spicco della camorra. Alla fine degli anni Ottanta fu anche inquisito, ma poi scagionato con formula ampia, dall’accusa di essere il mandante dell’omicidio del giornalista Giancarlo Siani. Ciro Giuliano era libero dopo aver scontato una condanna per associazione camorristica.

14/3/2007

Tre assassinati a Napoli, tra loro Ciro Giuliano
mercoledì, 14 marzo 2007 8.37
Versione per stampa

NAPOLI (Reuters) - Un omicidio eccellente nella serata a Napoli, quello di Ciro Giuliano figura di spicco dell'omonimo clan di Forcella, dopo che in mattinata nel giro di un'ora nel quartiere popolare di Secondigliano altre due persone erano state assassinate.

Come riferito dalla polizia, stasera Ciro Giuliano, 50 anni pluripregiudicato per associazione a delinquere, omicidio ed estorsione, originario di Forcella e figura di primo piano del clan che ha spadroneggiato per anni nel quartiere, è stato assassinato nel centro storico mentre viaggiava su uno scooter, avvicinato e colpito alla testa da un killer.

in mattinata Giuseppe Pica, 34 anni, già noto alle forze dell'ordine, era stato ucciso a colpi d'arma da fuoco, come riferito dai carabinieri, vicino alla sua abitazione, nel Rione dei Fiori, più noto come "Terzo Mondo". Secondo fonti investigative, l'uomo era uno degli spacciatori della zona, che sarebbe controllata dal clan Di Lauro.

Il secondo omicidio è avvenuto sempre a Secondigliano un'ora dopo: vittima Francesco Cardillo 36 anni, presunto affiliato al clan Di Lauro, ucciso con diversi colpi di arma da fuoco. Ne ha dato notizia la polizia, che non ha confermato collegamenti tra i due delitti.

Oltre un anno fa, Secondigliano e Scampia furono sconvolte da una guerra di camorra tra esponenti del clan che fa capo a Paolo Di Lauro - condannato nel maggio 2006 a 30 anni di carcere per associazione mafiosa, traffico di droga ed estorsione - e i cosiddetti "scissionisti", per il controllo del mercato locale degli stupefacenti.

Ecco la prossima vittima della camorra

Florio Paolo,28, vicino al clan Rinaldi, ucciso ieri sera



Ciao pup! Come stai? Tutto a posto?

Ciao Montana


i have taken some time for myself to write an other timeline about war, secret services, drugs and weapons


so that is why i am a bit slow on posting

but of course after that i will be fully back


respects

171 camorra mafioso were arrested today in one of italy's biggest anti mafia opretion.....among the arrested pepole were woman and children...still don't know who are the clans the police targeted and if any big bosses were arrested...

Giuliano and mazzarella families mainly, probably to stop the violence

I destinatari dei provvedimenti sono capi e affiliati ai clan Giuliano e Mazzarella, operanti nel centro storico e nel quartiere partenopeo di Forcella.

hi pop,

you know about any important bosses that were arrested yesterday?

and about the "camorra city"- is it mazzarella family that invested there??? (i'm talking about their huge building project outside naples )

thanks

x-man.

Original at http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2383885.ece

Fears that Mafia is behind collapse of column in Pompeii
By Peter Popham in Rome
Published: 23 March 2007

Carabinieri sealed off one of the grandest houses in the ancient city of Pompeii yesterday after a tall column was found smashed into seven pieces. Officials at the site fear that the destruction is a sign that Mafia gangs are trying to intimidate them.

Pompeii is Italy's most popular tourist destination, drawing 2.5 million visitors every year. And the house of Obellio Firmo is one of its most important. The villa's owner was a leading figure in the city's political life: at his funeral - before the fatal eruption of AD 79 - 10kg of incense was burned in his memory, at vast expense.

The column stood in the villa's garden. No one yet knows exactly how or why it toppled over. The Carabinieri point out that a fierce wind was blowing this week. The House of Obellio Firmo is undergoing restoration, and a high scaffolding stage next to the column was also found on its side: perhaps, they suggest, the wind caught the scaffolding, causing it to smash into the column, destroying it.

But the superintendent of the site, Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, is having none of it. Nor does he believe the damage was caused by vandals. "It's not vandalism," he said. "It's an act of intimidation. It's an attack against a process of transparency and legality. But we won't be stopped, we won't allow them to intimidate us."

Mr Guzzo pointed out that there is a gap in the railings close to the Obellio Firmo house: he suggested that the perpetrators got on to the site that way, clambered on to the scaffolding and pushed the column over.

Both Pompeii and Herculaneum, the other ancient city destroyed in the same eruption, are in an area where the Camorra, the Mafia of Naples, are a constant menace. Naples has seen dozens of vicious attacks and many murders in recent months as rival gangs slug it out for control of the cocaine trade.

Sites like Pompeii and Herculaneum, which earn millions every year from the tourist trade, are hugely tempting for the gangs. They routinely extort protection money from restaurants, hotels and other facilities catering to the visitors outside the ancient city's gates, but they are not beyond trying to get a slice of the action inside.

In 2000 one of Pompeii's most important villas narrowly escaped destruction after a fire was started on the fringe of the ancient city. Arson is a common way for Mafia gangs in Sicily and southern Italy to warn recalcitrant "clients" to cough up. A minister at the time said: "I point my finger at the Camorra."

Then in 2004 a fake bomb was placed in a brothel of the ancient city; the following year, 13 people were arrested on suspicion of trying to force the management of the ruins to buy coffee from a single source, at an extortionate price. Nasty but trivial, one might think - but the price of defiance can be high. During the campaign to elect councillors to modern Pompei's city council in 2004, a candidate called Carlo Cirillo went missing. Two days later his body was found by the roadside, missing its head.

9th murder in 10 days:


23/3/2007 (16:37) - SPARATORIA
Napoli, un morto in centro
e una donna ferita

Polizia



Si tratta di marito e moglie
NAPOLI
Ancora sangue sulle strade di Napoli. In vico neve, nella zona di Materdei, un uomo è morto e una donna è stata ferita ed è ora ricoverata all’ospedale «San Gennaro». La segnalazione degli spari è arrivata alla polizia poco prima delle 16. Al suolo, secondo quanto si è appreso, sarebbe stata trovata anche una pistola. Sul posto molti curiosi ma sembra che nessuno possa fornire indicazioni.

L’uomo ucciso a Napoli si chiamava Vincenzo Cerbone, 27 anni, residente nella zona di piazza Dante e con precedenti di polizia. La donna ferita era sua Moglie, Antonietta Vitiello, 27enne anche lei. Le sue condizioni non sono preoccupanti, dato che ha solo una ferita alla mano.

Con l’omicidio di Vincenzo Cerbone sale a 28 il numero delle persone uccise dall’inizio dell’anno. Sono nove gli omicidi avvenuti negli ultimi dieci giorni.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

vincnzo di lauro was arrested today with other 20 pepole from his clan!!!

he became the well known di lauro family boss after his father was arrested.

Italian police arrest 21, including clan boss, in raids on Naples mob
The Associated Press
Published: March 27, 2007

ROME: Italian police arrested 21 suspected mobsters in raids early Tuesday, including the alleged boss of a clan involved in a murderous feud within the Camorra crime syndicate in Naples, officials said.

Vincenzo Di Lauro, 31, had been on the run since June and was arrested in Casalnuovo, near Naples, police in the southern Italian city said. He is believed to have taken over the Di Lauro clan after his father, Paolo, was arrested as part of efforts to end a vicious turf war between rival gangs that led to dozens of murders in recent years.

Twenty other alleged mobsters were arrested in a separate police operation in Naples, Rome and Caserta, southern Italy, on charges including murder, mafia association and illegal arms possession, the Naples prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Naples Mayor Rosa Russo Iervolino praised Di Lauro's arrest, calling it an "extraordinary success."

The Camorra, the equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia for the Naples area, controls drug and arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and illegal betting rackets.

Bloodshed In Italian City
Updated: 17:35, Friday March 30, 2007

Feuds between rival Mafia gangs in Naples have left three people murdered in the past week.

Thirty-one people have been shot dead there since the start of the year and the violence is reportedly threatening to engulf the Italian city.

Naples gangs are said to dominate the world trade in cocaine - they take delivery of the drug from South American brokers and sell it around the world.

The tit-for-tat killings are being compared to the violence between mafia gangs on the streets of Palermo in the 1980s.


Advertisement

As in Sicily 20 years ago, the victims of the violence are nearly all gang members and innocent victims are rare.

In the most recent death, drug dealer Antonio Guiscardo, 22, was killed by two gunmen as he went to work.

An hour earlier, a 35-year-old criminal, Vincenzo Uccello was talking to two friends when two armed men on a motorbike sprayed him with bullets.

Six months ago the Italian government announced a crackdown on the fighting, with 1,000 extra police being sent in but not the army.


Di Lauro arrested in city

However, the city's mayor Rosa Russo Iervolino said: "The violence is growing in densely populated parts of the city and at times when lots of people are about."

The killings continue despite recent police successes - a gang leader called Vincenzo di Lauro, who was on the run for a year, was arrested in the city on Tuesday.

The latest violence was sparked by a blood feud when a splinter group within his Di Lauro clan rebelled against the rest, reported The Independent newspaper.

Thirteen other alleged gang members were picked up on the same day and 170 people, thought to be belong to two other clans, were also arrested.

http://gangstersinc.tripod.com/LaTorre.html

Added a profile of Augusto La Torre

Naples, May 11 - There was a maxi-raid by the police and carabinieri against a few clans in the region of Campania.
The carabinieri of the provincial command in Naples together witjh the ROS special squads carried out 57 warrants of provisional arrest issued by the Anti-mafia District direction against important members and associates of the Russo, Di Domenico and Rega camorra gangs. The flying squad and the Anti-mafia investigation agency are also carrying out other 43 warrants of provisional arrest against associates of the Ruocco, Pianese, Arlistico and Ianuale gangs. In fact the whole panorama of entire local gang scenario has been targeted. A few companies that had dealings with these criminal associations have been sequestrated.

£20m railway line under the cloud of Vesuvius and mafia war

By Malcolm Moore in Naples
Last Updated: 1:43am BST 16/05/2007

A £5.5 billion transport project in Italy that includes a railway to ferry tourists to the top of Vesuvius has become mired in controversy amid warnings of an imminent volcanic eruption and a mafia war at the foot of the mountain.

The original Vesuvius funicular; a £5.5bn project that includes a railway to ferry tourists to the top of Vesuvius has become mired in controversy amid warnings of an imminent volcanic eruption
The line to Vesuvius was originally opened in 1880

Herculaneum, a town at the foot of the volcano, is to be the first stop on a £20 million reconstruction of Thomas Cook's 19th-century funicular railway. However, there is a "one-in-two" chance of the volcano erupting in the next few years. A survey of the volcano last month warned that 300,000 people could die in an eruption.

"The rule is that the longer the period of inactivity, the bigger the eruption," said Augusto Neri, of the National Geophysical and Vulcanology Institute.

Vesuvius erupted eight times in the 19th century, and in 1906, 1929 and 1944. The last eruption destroyed the original railway.

The new project, to be completed in 2009, is to be financed mostly by the European Union.

Alessandro Crocetta, a spokesman for the regional transport authority, was relaxed about the apparent threat. He said: "Well, if it erupts, it erupts." The decision is all the more remarkable considering that only four years ago, the city council launched a £500 million compensation scheme to move villagers away from the volcano.

A law was passed forbidding further construction within 1.5 miles of Vesuvius, about five miles from Naples.

The 550,000 people who lived in houses inside the "red zone" were offered £20,000 towards the cost of a new house somewhere else.

Almost half of Herculaneum's population took the offer and abandoned their homes. The departure of locals left the way open for the Camorra, the local mafia, to move into their homes.

The area is now regarded as one of the most dangerous parts of the city as gangs wage a turf war.

The proposed funicular line and railway links
The funicular railway is part of a larger project to improve the underground system of Naples

However, the regional transport authority, headed by Ennio Cascetta, insists that the railway will help regenerate the area.

"It will have an effect on crime in the city, because the economy will improve," he said.

The funicular railway is part of a larger project to improve the underground system of Naples.

Lord Rogers, Sir Norman Foster, Anish Kapoor and Zaha Hadid are among the architects who have designed stations for the metro.

However, there are fears that the project may benefit the Camorra.

According to Italy's anti-mafia commission, 12 per cent of Italy's construction companies are tied to the mafia. A further 12 per cent of firms providing cement and building materials are run by organised crime syndicates.

In Naples, the local council has taken steps to award public contracts to non-Camorra companies. However, firms are suspected of either paying protection money or buying concrete from the gangs. The anti-mafia commission said the "entrepreneurial capacity" of the mob in the construction sector was growing fast and assisting their laundering of drug money.

Last week almost 100 gangsters were arrested in Nola, near the foot of Vesuvius, to investigate "links between local and national politicians and public contracts".

Meanwhile, at Herculaneum, where work is already beginning to restore Thomas Cook's original station, six people have been gunned down in the past week.

Nevertheless, Mr Cascetta said a railway line to the top of Vesuvius was "something romantic".

Mafia boss arrested in Britain
Press Association
Friday May 18, 2007 8:43 AM


Extradition proceedings are expected to begin soon against a Mafia godfather arrested in England on suspicion of a series of murders.

Gennaro Panzuto, 32, went on the run a year ago following a bloody mob war between rival clans in Naples, Italy. He is accused of four murders and a string of charges for extortion, firearms offences and Mafia association.

He was traced to a flat in Preston, Lancashire, and arrested on Thursday night following months of undercover work by Italian police, working with the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

It is understood Panzuto is in custody in Preston, awaiting an appearance before magistrates for an extradition hearing. A spokesman for Soca said they could not comment on operational matters.

Armed officers detained him at a property near the town centre after telephone calls made by his family from public phone boxes in Naples led to his hideout.

Italian police sources said Panzuto had used Mafia funds to set up shoe shops and clothing outlets in Manchester and London, which he was using as a cover and to launder money.

He was embroiled in a deadly battle between his own clan, the Pincirillos, and the Missos which resulted in the deaths of 20 people in the space of just three months. Panzuto is suspected of involvement in four of those murders.

Vittorio Pisano, chief of the Naples Flying Squad, said: "Panzuto is a very senior Mafia member and his arrest is of great significance. He is very dangerous and is suspected of four murders.

"He was the head of the Pincirillo clan which he took over from his uncles of the same name when they were arrested two years ago. Panzuto is also wanted for extortion, illegal possession of firearms and Mafia association."

He added: "Preston seems a rather unusual place to hide out as mostly these criminals prefer the South of France or Spain - I have never heard of a Mafia man being held in Preston before. When I heard that he had been located to Preston I had to look it up in an atlas as I had never heard of the place."

Seized ... Mob boss Panzuto and Lancs £225k bolthole, inset

hollander-

you know which clothes outlets he owned in manchester? is it writen anywere?

Garbage crisis overwhelms Italy's south
By Deepa Babington
Tue May 22, 7:02 AM ET

CAPUA, Italy (Reuters) - Hundreds of rubbish bags bake in the sun, a putrid stench hangs over streets of pastel-colored houses and apartment blocks.

This is Capua, a small, historic town like many others on the outskirts of Naples gripped by a garbage crisis that has dogged the southern Campania region for years.

With the few landfill sites in the area topped to the brim, garbage collectors have stopped picking up rubbish, forcing residents to dump their waste on the streets.

"It's an absolute disgrace for the town," said local student Michela Giordano. "The stench is truly unbearable. Look at all these dogs running about. We'll all die at this rate."

Bad administration, shady political deals and the interference of the Mafia are at the heart of the crisis.

The Camorra, Naples' version of the Mafia, is accused by environmentalists of creating illegal waste dumps where it burns hazardous waste. Environmental group Legambiente says the illegal waste racket rakes in as much as 22 billion euros ($30 billion) a year.

Officials estimated as much as 3,000 tonnes of rubbish piled up in the streets of Naples alone before emergency crews finally removed some of it. But the worst is yet to come with the area's main landfill closing in a few days and no substitute ready.

Fearing an epidemic, locals are regularly setting trash piles on fire, despite warnings from authorities this creates toxic fumes.

"The other day I saw a girl walking by who was so overwhelmed by the stench that she ended up vomiting right there in front of the garbage," said Cristina Izzo, owner of a cafe around the corner from a large garbage heap in Capua.

"They have to find a solution because we can't live like this," she said.

EMERGENCY

A 'state of emergency' was declared for large areas of the under-developed south as far back as 1994, but a string of government-appointed refuse supremos have failed to solve the dilemma.

Guido Bertolaso, the latest 'rubbish tsar' appointed last year, has threatened to resign several times because his decisions on where to build new waste dumps are often undermined by local or national policymakers.

Bertolaso, who is also head of Italy's civil protection agency, proposed creating a new waste dump in the town of Serre but that triggered new protests by locals fearing a threat to their health.

Residents say each effort to solve the recurring crisis is counteracted by the Mafia's efforts.

"Behind the emergency, economic interests are being looked after that are not clear or clean," said Pompeii's Bishop Carlo Liberati. "From some parts, this protest has clearly been fuelled by a need to maintain the status quo. But we are already at the limits of our tolerance and I fear the risk of a civil revolt."

But after years of watching the rubbish crisis reappear with alarming regularity, Angelo Rossi is one of many in towns like Capua who is not holding his breath for a solution.

"It's a problem and an embarrassment," he said, sitting at the train station that opens out on to heaps of garbage. "But what can we do? Demonstrate? What use is that?"

Mafia suspect will be extradited
An alleged Mafia boss suspected of four murders in Italy has agreed to be extradited from the UK.
Gennaro Panzuto, 32, of Garstang near Preston, Lancs, was arrested by the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency.

City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London was told a series of charges against Mr Panzuto date back to November 2005 and are ongoing.

Twenty people have died in three months in Naples in clashes between rival groups the Pincirillos and the Missos.

'Armed confrontation'

Charges against Mr Panzuto drawn up by Italian investigating judge Tullio Morello also include possession of weapons in Italy including a Kalashnikov, pump-action shotgun, a sawn-off shotgun and a machine pistol.

Mr Panzuto is set to return to Italy in 10 days' time.

Melanie Cumberland, for the Italian government, described Mr Panzuto in court as an "armed Mafia associate".

She said: "He is engaged in an armed confrontation with the so-called Misso clan that operates in the same area for financial gain and unlawful activities of the members."

Ms Cumberland said these included "committing murder, engaging in extortion, selling drugs, and carrying firearms".

Undercover work

She told the court a secret recording made in February 2005 shows Mr Panzuto plotting the murder of Graziano Borelli.

Mr Panzuto is heard saying: "As soon as possible, he goes out, we have to shoot him. We have to kill him in the hall."

A separate recording from December 2005 shows him blackmailing a bingo club owner to get 3,000 euros (£2,040) of renovation work done.

District Judge Timothy Workman told Mr Panzuto that his decision to agree to extradition would mean the process would move quickly.

Mr Panzuto, speaking through an interpreter, replied: "I am sorry if I have created any problems by this."

Mr Workman said: "I'm remanding you in custody pending your return to the Court of Naples in Italy. That return should take place within 10 days of today's date."

Mr Panzuto was traced to his flat and arrested on 16 May by armed officers following months of undercover work by the Italian police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/6687411.stm

Published: 2007/05/24 17:11:17 GMT

Mafia suspect extradited to Italy
An alleged mafia boss suspected of four murders in Italy has been extradited from the UK, according to City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Gennaro Panzuto, 32, was arrested in Garstang near Preston, Lancs, by the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Vittorio Pisano, chief of Naples Flying Squad, described him as a "very senior Mafia member" whose arrest was of "great significance".

Mr Panzuto will also be questioned about extortion and firearms claims.

Melanie Cumberland, for the Italian government, has previously described Mr Panzuto in court as an "armed mafia associate".

Covert recordings

She told the court a secret recording made in February 2005 shows Mr Panzuto plotting a murder of a man called Graziano Borelli.

Mr Panzuto is heard saying: "As soon as possible, he goes out, we have to shoot him. We have to kill him in the hall."

A separate recording from December 2005 shows him blackmailing a bingo club owner to get 3,000 euros (£2,040) of renovation work done.

Mr Panzuto was traced to his flat and arrested on 16 May by armed officers following months of undercover work by the Italian police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Italian police swoop on organised crime in Naples area

11 June 2007 | 20:22 | FOCUS News Agency

Rome. Prosecutors fighting organised crime in southern Italy have issued 54 arrest warrants aimed at members of two rival clans of the Camorra criminal network, authorities said Monday, quotet by AFP.

Police raided homes at dawn in areas in the south of Naples, detaining 37 people, police said. Another 17 people already in prison or under house arrest were informed they faced further charges.

Warfare between the two Camorra clans in the area since 2003 has left 20 people dead, according to the prosecutors.

The arrest warrants allege criminal conspiracy, drug-trafficking, loan sharking, extortion and murder.

The swoop netted property worth several million euros (dollars). It included seven armoured vehicles, video surveillance systems in suspects' houses, 16 apartments and also the offices and equipment of a small radio station which according to the investigators sent clan messages to detainees.

The Camorra, active in Naples and the Campania region, which is one of the poorest in Italy, is made up of several clans which regularly fight each other creating outbursts of violence.

There are estimated to be 5,000 clan members in the Campania region.

Italy's grapes of wrath symbolize fight with Mafia
New Italian Wine Become Symbol of Fight Against Organized Crime in Italy
By Nicola Scevola
Reuters
ROME


A new Italian white wine has become a symbol of the fight against organized crime, incurring the wrath of gangsters from Naples because it was produced from grapes grown on land confiscated from a Mafia godfather.

Campo Libero, which means "Free Field," was presented this month as the first wine made in Lazio region with grapes grown on land taken from an important member of the Camorra -- as the Naples version of the Mafia is known.

The lightly sparkling white wine is made from Trebbiano grapes cultivated by Il Gabbiano ("The Seagull"), a charity that employs people with troubled backgrounds, such as drug addicts and former detainees.

"The fact that we could turn a land bought with illegal earnings into something totally clean is the most important message we could send," said Dario Campagna, chairman of Il Gabbiano.

Campagna, a 50-year-old with silver hair, had no previous expertise in wine-making. At the beginning he had to rely on the knowledge of local farmers and he is modest about Campo Libero's bouquet, calling it a "farmer's wine."

But he hopes it will symbolize to consumers the value of fighting organized crime.

Thanks to a law passed in 1996 by the Italian parliament, property belonging to convicted Mafiosi can be used for social purposes. In 2003, Il Gabbiano was given 10 hectares of land that had been abandoned for years.

It once belonged to Francesco Schiavone, head of the most powerful and violent Camorra family of Naples, whose empire spread from Naples to the farmland only 60 km (37 miles) from Rome.

DIRTY MONEY

Roberto Saviano, a Camorra expert, wrote in his bestseller "Gomorra" that the Schiavone clan ran illegal drugs and arms but also had semi-legal businesses such as cement production and property developing, a shady empire worth some 5 billion euros ($7 billion).

The land on which Campo Libero grows was confiscated after Schiavone was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. The gangster had already devoted part of this land to growing grapes that were illegally sold on the market.

There is evidence that the rest of the land was used for shadier activities. When Campagna first started digging to build a dirt road inside the property, he found old Italian lira banknotes, shredded and buried less than a meter underground.

The lira was replaced with the euro in Italy in 2001 and the old notes were supposed to be disposed of safely, to avoid their toxic lead content seeping into farmland. But the Camorra is infamous for taking money to get rid of waste illegally.

"I think Schiavone got paid to dispose of the banknotes and simply decided to hide them here," said Campagna. "When we got the land, it was like a rubbish dump. It took us three years and a lot of work to change it."

This year Il Gabbiano produced 10,000 bottles of wine, but it hasn't been an easy job. Campagna, a teetotaler, first asked local farmers for practical help and advice.

But every time they made an appointment to start working, the farmers mysteriously failed to show up.

"Finally someone told us that one of Schiavone's relatives lived in the area and the people were afraid he would find out they were cooperating with us," said Campagna.

He called the police and got them to drop by twice a day on patrol. He also asked an agronomist from another town to help. Soon, when local farmers saw nothing bad had happened, they agreed to come and lend the charity workers a hand.

SABOTAGE

"This was our first real success," recalled Campagna, who has applied for public funding to renovate an old building on the property and adapt it to receive primary school students.

His dream is to create an educational farm to show youngsters how wine, flour and other natural products are made and, at the same time, teach them the value and importance of staying on the right side of the law.

But his success appears to have displeased the former owners.

One night last September, just before the first harvest was due, unidentified saboteurs destroyed half the crop by cutting the metal wire supporting the vines, which collapsed under the weight of the ripe fruit.

"We woke up and saw we had lost around 50,000 kilos of grapes out of 140,000," said Campagna. "It was a real blow."

Police are investigating but Campagna has his suspicions.

"I think the Camorra are to blame. They want the law letting their assets be confiscated to fail. It's in their interests for this land to stay untouched. It's a sign of power."

That is why Campagna and his workers did not give up and last March replanted the vines from scratch.

"It will take years for the vines to grow again, but it's worth it," he said. "The more we fight for this wine, the better it will taste in the end."

Naples Mafia drives priest out of city

By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 3:28am BST 30/06/2007

The local Mafia in Naples has forced a priest who preached against crime to quit the city.

The Camorra, which masterminds a significant part of Europe's cocaine trade, threatened to kill Father Luigi Merola if he did not leave.

The final warning came in the form of a photograph of the priest with a bullet entering his mouth. Father Merola was in charge of the parish of Forcella, a violent neighbourhood in the heart of the city which is controlled by the crime gang. He has had a police escort for the past three years and last week, a 30-year-old man was shot just outside the priest's church.
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Although he was popular in the area for his fight against organised crime, the local curia finally decided that it was too dangerous for Father Merola to remain.

He has been given a job at the Italian Bishops' Conference in Rome.

In his final Mass a few weeks ago, Father Merola told worshippers that criminals could not stop "spring" from arriving in Naples and it would be "a season of peace".

Father Merola said he was not being forced out by fear. He said he reached the decision with Cardinal Sepe, the Archbishop of Naples.

"One phase is closed, a new one begins," he said. "But I will continue to fight against crime." Meanwhile, in Palermo, four shopkeepers won a battle against two Mafia dons demanding protection money.

About three-quarters of shops in Palermo pay a "pizzo" to the Mafia.

In a rare display of bravery, the owners of a bakery recorded the mafiosi with a microphone hidden in a watch. "You only want to give me 600," said Salvatore La Monica, 35, one of the two men in custody.

"But that is nothing!"