Mafia Queens II

Patrizia was born in 1967 in a poor and destitute family that had no connections to the Camorra. We are in the area of Acerra, in the middle of “the Land of Fire”, the name by which this area is unfortunately known. It’s a territory that lies outside major metropolitan areas and has always been considered marginal and abandoned by institutions. This is where Patrizia grew up, in a place which offered absolutely no prospects for the future. But suddenly there’s a turning point in her life. She meets a man of substance, Aniello Cirella, and falls in love with him. Aniello is the boss of the Cirella clan that at the time controlled Acerra. Her position changed drastically and she eventually became a Camorra queen. After some time has passed, she had children, creating a family and a permanent place for herself within the clan. She devoted herself to helping her husband keep the accounts of certain business and aided him in managing the racketeering and drug trafficking that their clan had been successfully monopolizing in the area for some years. Despite never finishing school, Patrizia is an intelligent woman, capable of playing the role of mediator and leader even in the violent environment of the Camorra. The Cirella family is affiliated with the Cutolo Clan, and it is with such neighboring families that she weaves alliances, effectively sharing control of the area. Even after the defeat of Cutolo’s NCO (New Organized Camorra). This type of Camorra doesn’t shy away from using weapons and from spilling blood on the streets of Naples’s province. Patrizia participated in some murders, acting as the “specchiettista”: the person who alerts other members of the gang about the presence of an enemy, at times even following the victim until the killers’ arrival, so there is no way of escaping death.

This story starts with a bloodbath: it’s 1999 and we are in a club. Carlo Amato, a good guy who has in the last month started working in the world of videogames and is the son of Salvatore, a businessman from Santa Maria Capua Vetere, is stabbed to death during a fight. But the real piece of news is a rumor according to which Carlo joined the fight to protect the daughter of the boss Bellagiò from the aggressive advances of the killer: the son of Sandokan, the leader of the Casalesi clan. This is how the story of the Amato clan begins. The father Salvatore tries to convince his friends and the witnesses to talk with the Carabinieri, but we are in the province of Caserta during the golden years of the Casalesi clan, in a world ruled by the code of silence and mafia that will be well described by the countless life sentences of the Spartacus trial a few years later. So the code of silence rules and this provokes the wrath of the Amato family: from now on their lives are driven by anger and thirst for revenge. Rosa, the sister, lives with her mother because the parents have divorced. This trauma upsets the family’s dynamics. The father, who was very close to the son, wants his ex-wife and daughter to move back to his palace. They immediately become aware that a difficult period will come and they set up a small fort to defend the family from the conflicts that will follow. Rosa until this moment is a devoted Law student at university, who dreams of becoming a magistrate. But it’s obvious that they won’t be served justice, not in this place where everybody is so respectful of the code of silence. One of Salvatore Amato’s cousins is Bifone, a member of the Belforte clan, a powerful family that used to be a member of the Cutoli clan, which now has a consolidated peaceful relationship with the Casalesi clan, especially with the Zagaria branch. The Belforte boss, Bruno Buttone, takes their situation to heart and helps them to transform their deceased son’s passion into a Camorra business: the family is entrusted with running videogame operations in the area, with the tenders for gambling and poker machines. Obviously running this type of business in this area is impossible without having connections with the underworld and becoming part of it.

After the earthquake of 1980, the rebuilding process offered Camorra organizations a helping hand to re-launch themselves, both by infiltrating tenders and aid programs, and by creating ghettos in newly developed metropolitan area. In particular, among the families who move from the Spanish Quarters in the city center of Naples to Caivano’s Parco Verde is the Russo family. They’re a clan of petty criminals who run a profitable drug trade, especially Anna, the eldest daughter, who from a very young age starts dealing drugs, ranging from hashish to Kobret. It’s the end of the 1990s and in this new context they want to “move up” the ladder, meaning they want a role with greater responsibilities, and therefore greater profits, within the organization. Because Anna is the oldest and has such a fierce personality (her nickname was Annarella ‘a pop), she convinces her brother Alfredo to organize a gang of men, and she herself summons a group of representatives from the important Mazzarella clan, weaving new strategic relations also outside the quarter. But the area is still controlled by Natale, the old representative of the Cutolo clan, and their man in Parco Verde is called Mele; it’s 1997 and the first step taken by this new clan headed by Alfredo Russo, with the help of his sisters Anna and Giovanna, it’s to kill Mele. The murder symbolically marks the birth of the new Russo clan. Natale however is unwilling to put up with the murder of his gang member and with this new clan running his neighborhood. Alfredo Russo miraculously survives an ambush and has to go on the run and form an alliance with the powerful Mazzarella clan to break loose and save himself from Natale. A war, which over the years causes dozens of deaths, breaks out. In these early stages Anna’s influence and advice proves essential: even though she doesn’t control the clan, she directs operations and manages the drug markets, organizing and keeping the accounts of all sales of the various drugs in the area, now that all the dealing spots have been monopolized by their clan after Mele’s murder. The rival clan’s boss, Salvatore Natale, is now in jail and for a time it seems like the Russo family’s control of the drug market can allow them to calmly generate huge profits for all the family. However a year later Alfredo and Anna are arrested and their sister Giovanna, the only one who can now reign over the clan, starts double-dealing, going back into business with the Natale clan.

Giulia (invented name) was born in the one of the most poor neighborhood in the Napoli city center. This area is ruled by the Giuliano's family, a powerful and violent clan. in the 80's the drug dealing as well as the Camorra war are making that area of the city one of the most violent and dangerous of the entire province. Giulia was used to the death in the street. when she is a young woman she meets Mario, and starts a love story that very soon evolves in a nightmare. Mario is a junky and a dealer, and he becomes every day more violent. to protect herself and her two children Giulia shoot him in a leg. the scandal spreads in the neighborhood and the Giuliano's clan must intervene. they offer her protection. Nico is the guy that they send. he is a killer really involved in the Giuliano's clan, but of course Giulia falls desperately for him. she starts drug dealing again. a really unlucky accident forces Nico on the loose. Giulia is arrested and while she is in jail she receives the information, Nico was back in Naples but he has been killed. her life goes in pieces, and the only solution for her is to cooperate with the justice.

Enrica was born in 1971 into a family of street vendors of the famous second-hand clothes market of Resina: the father Giuseppe is known as “il Pellicciaio” (The Fur Coat Seller). They are laid-back people, not connected to the world of crime: however they live in the Cuparella neighborhood, where, almost at the same time as Enrica’s birth, the fist open air drug market in Italy also came to life; and since then it has always been the fort of the Birra clan. Growing up in a place like this cannot but have some consequences and for Enrica they will prove to be decisive. She’s a bright girl and does well at school, but there she also makes friends with the younger members of the Birra clan and marries Franco, who is one of the clan’s hit-men: more importantly she becomes a close and trusted friend of Oliviero Vincenzo, one of the three leaders of the clan. Her position as a wife and as a trusted friend of a boss opens the doors to all the clan’s activities, which she becomes involved in with increasingly prestigious roles and responsibilities. she is a loving mother, a drug dealer, and a member of the killing actions of the Birra clan.

Laura was born into a family of honest farmers of Mondragone, in the province of Caserta, an area known as “terra di lavoro” (land of work). They are old-fashioned, hard-working, honest and simple people: these values are so close to the family that the brother joins the Carabinieri. But her destiny is different: she falls in love with Antonio De Lucia, a nice and reckless youth, and immediately gets married in 1995. But Antonio’s life isn’t so pure after all: it turns out he’s seriously involved in the local underworld and while she’s giving birth to their daughter, he gets into trouble. He’s involved in the local clans’ resistance to the Casalesi clan’s hegemony (La Torre murder) and is wanted: after a few months he runs away, leaving Laura alone with her daughter. Pressured by her family, she starts seeing a Neapolitan man that’s quite a bit older than her, an untrustworthy and weak man, with whom she has three more children and that causes a lot of trouble with the local underworld; yes, because Laura has also been corrupted now: her acquaintances and the difficulties of raising four children have pushed her to resort to the world of drug dealing. Managing the drug dealing in Mondragone with the burden of a hopeless partner isn’t easy, and forces her to confront the clans and suppliers for unpaid batches of drugs. She gets rid of her partner and continues alone, but she also gives up on the area where she deals and on the excessive risks it causes: Laura establishes a network of wealthy clients, all rich and reliable middle-class people, who used to buy drugs in Naples and now turn to her. So she starts dealing with a low-risk factor, away from the public eye, also avoiding the strict impositions that the local clans exert over street dealer in the area. Obviously she needs to deliver top quality cocaine, but Laura is by now well acquainted with the market and by moving between Naples and Caserta can guarantee a top-quality supply.