Just like their cousins of the Sicilian Mafia or the Calabrian Ndrangheta, the Neapolitan-based Camorra is an ancient criminal fraternity that was formed hundreds and hundreds of years ago in the southern Italian Province of Campania.
And to the people who reside in that province, the dreaded Camorra, was — and still is — every bit as potent and deadly as their more frequently discussed Sicilian and Calabrian criminal brethren.
Widely believed to have first been established back in the 17th century, much like their criminal cousins, La Camorra started out as a benevolent society dedicated to defending their land, families, friends, and property from foreign invaders. La Camorra was a watchdog, if you will, and a protector over the Province of Campania.
Back in those days, to be called a “Camorrista” was generally viewed as a compliment of sorts and a badge of honor to wear proudly!
But, like their cousins — Calabria’s “uomini di rispetto” and Sicily’s mafiosi — what began as protection for the people gradually turned into a scourge upon them.
The Land of Opportunity
Coinciding with the mass migration and resettlement of poor Italian immigrants to the United States — which began in earnest by the late 1800s, with the majority coming from Italy’s so-called “Mezzogiorno” regions south of Rome — Camorrista clans started to reestablish themselves and operate on American soil.
By the 1910s, La Camorra had already spread out and taken root in many areas of the country like a wildfire.
By the early 1920s era, no organized crime-type gang of any kind was more notorious or deadly than that of the Camorra. In fact, it can be argued that no other secret criminal organization even came close at that time.
Black Hand extortion, shakedowns of shopkeepers, blackmail, fraud, kidnappings for ransom, violent holdups and robberies, the counterfeiting of U.S. currency, the Italian lottery, dock rackets, narcotics peddling and murder for hire were some of their more prominent activities.
The Camorra’s reputation grew to the point that it began to surpass them, with their bloody criminal exploits recounted in tabloids across the country on a weekly basis.
