Desperate Prodi Considers Sending in Troops to Quell Naples Violence
Spiegel Online (Germany)
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Naples may be famous for its architecture, art and being the traditional home of pizza. But it also has a less enticing claim to fame: the Camorra, a home-grown version of the Sicilian Mafia, whose insalubrious business ventures include drugs and arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and illegal gambling.
Now a bloodier than usual crime wave is forcing the authorities in Rome to try to come up with a long-term solution. A series of armed robberies and murders during the past week has persuaded the Interior Minister Giuliano Amato to send an extra 1,000 police to Naples. The continuing bloodbath has also prompted Prime Minister Romano Prodi to consider sending in troops to quell the violence in and around the city.
Three people fell victim to violent crime on Tuesday alone. A 36-year-old man was killed in his computer games shop about 13 kilometers north of Naples. A few hours later in Torre del Greco, 17 kilometers south of the city, two known members of a local gang were shot while riding a moped. Since Friday the number of murders has risen to seven, with a number of the deaths thought to be linked to organized crime. On Monday evening a suspected gangster called Vincenzo
Presigiacomo was shot in the center of the city as he left a bar. Presigiacomo is believed to be a member of a Camorra clan involved in a turf war with a rival clan. According to police estimates, around four thousand inhabitants of Naples and the surrounding region are members of various Camorra 'families.'
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato announced on Tuesday that 1,000 extra police were to be sent to bolster Naples' current force of 13,000 officers, in order to bring the city under control "street by street." In addition, surveillance cameras are to be installed throughout the city starting Nov. 9. Police will also receive more motorbikes so they can move faster through the city's narrow streets and alleys. "We must radically and permanently revisit the way we defend the safety of our citizens," Amato said in a statement.
The authorities are also worried about the effect on tourism in a city that draws tens of thousands of visitors every year. Just last month a Canadian was hit by a stray bullet while walking through the city. Even more alarming is the danger of a complete breakdown in law and order, as some locals turn to vigilantism. One recent fatality was a thief shot dead by the owner of a tobacconist that he was trying to rob.
In the fight against Neapolitan organized crime, the government is examining all the options, including sending soldiers into the southern Italian city. Prime Minister Romano Prodi promised concerted action to defeat crime. "This time the fight against crime will not be carried out to soothe public opinion for a few days or a few months, but it will be a permanent fight to bring safety to the citizens," Prodi told reporters Tuesday. However, the regional governor Antonio Bassolino is sceptical of the wisdom of sending in the army, rather than extra police.
Soldiers have been used before in the fight against organized crime in Italy. In 1992, troops were deployed in Sicily following the murder of two prominent anti-Mafia prosecutors. The soldiers remained on the island for six years.
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