Camorra

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Related to Camorra: Gomorrah, Cosa Nostra, yakuza, Gomorra

Camorra

Camorra (kəmôrˈə), Italian secret criminal association in Naples. Of controversial origin, it first came to light in 1830. Its activities spread by intimidation, blackmail, and bribery until Naples was controlled by it. The Camorra appears to have been used by the Bourbon rulers of Naples as a quasi-police network to crush opposition. Efforts to break the power of the Camorra, begun in the 1880s, culminated in the 1911 murder trial at which numerous members were convicted. The Camorra was suppressed and supplanted after Benito Mussolini's takeover in 1922.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Camorra

a secret society of bandits in southern Italy, similar to the Mafia. It became particularly widespread in the 18th century on the mainland part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It drew its members from among the déclassés of the towns and villages. It had an extensive network and its own hierarchy, laws, and jargon.

During the Bourbon Restoration (1815–60) it was used by the monarchy to suppress antifeudal movements. After the unification of Italy, it became a tool of separatist groups in the south, which brought on governmental persecution and led to its decline at the turn of the century. Remnants of the camorristi formed gangs of extortioners, and the word has become synonymous in Italian with extortion and violence.

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References in periodicals archive ?

Three recent Italian movies--Song 'e Napnle by the Manetti Brothers (2013), Mozzarella Stories by Edoardo de Angelis (2011) and Into Paradiso by Paola Randi (2010)--embrace a new way of representing the Neapolitan Camorra that employs comedy and refuses to portray Naples in simplistic or prejudicial terms.

From Fear to Laughter: How Comedy Came to Portray the Camorra in Contemporary Italian Film

Piu che un contro-Stato, come piu volte e stato definito, quello della camorra e un potere riconosciuto.

Sangue e miti della Bella Societa Riformata, la Camorra di primo Ottocento

The non-profit cooperative operates in the mafia-dominated neighborhood of Barra in the city's east to educate "the children of Camorra," the Naples mafia, in the art of circus, theater and parkour.

One-time child soldiers use circus arts to tear kids from mafia's grip

Many reports, based on evidence given by a former Camorra gang member, said that Scotti had died soon after his escape.

Italian mafia boss arrested in Brazil after 31 years on the run

''Against the Camorra,'' read a banner in the crowd.

News in brief

The 2008 film, also Oscar-nominated, looks at the Camorra branch of the mafia and its grip on the people of Naples and Caserta.

Dubai to host gangster-themed mini film festival

Italy's main crime groups - the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Calabria's 'Ndrangheta and the Camorra from the Southern city of Naples - have a total annual turnover of 116 billion euros ($151 billion), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says.

Italian Police Arrest 37 in Mafia Haul

Italian immigrants brought both the Mafia and its Neapolitan equivalent the Camorra across the Atlantic with them in the late 1800s - and it was in the city slums of the US that the two groups merged.

From slums to corporate boardrooms; Mafia beginnings

Films include Saint Joan, Breathless (A bout de souffle), Lilith, Pendulum, Paint Your Wagon, Kill!, Les Hautes Solitudes, Camorra, The French Conspiracy (L'Attentat), and The Wild Duck (Die Wildente).

The films of Jean Seberg

However, Arena is a convicted Camorra assassin, serving a life sentence in a Tuscan jail for his part in gunning down three men on the streets of Naples 20 years ago.