Camorra and cigarette smuggling

Several were the elements that contributed to the spread of contraband in the period immediately following the Second World War. The attitude of tolerance of the authorities and the population , the presence of a major port located in the center of the Mediterranean, the contemporary phase of the reorganization of the local Camorra and the absence of a dominant clan played an important role .

After World War II 50% of cigarettes consumed came from clandestine factories of the Napoletano, 30% from smuggling through the ports of Marseilles , Gibraltar and Tangier , while only 20% came from the State monopoly .

But the boom years of the trade of cigarettes to the Camorra were those ranging from 1970 to 1973 , five thousand people were used as laborers by smugglers , four smugglers . Fifty thousand people from around the supporters , relatives and retailers, lived contraband.

Gigi Di Fiore, in full text on the Camorra titled " The Camorra and its stories . Organized crime in Naples, from its origins to the latest wars, " describes very well what was the social impact of the phenomenon: "
( smuggling) became a kind of mass service , widely considered quasi-legal , which gave employment to huge groups desperate nothing part . The port of Naples , in the center of the Mediterranean, offering ideal conditions for smuggling cigarettes in stores starting from the Moroccan coast , while the controls were almost non-existent in the general tolerance . The smuggling took immediately to reduce social reconstruction in post-war "

Explodes in the north of Naples , the traffic of contraband cigarettes . Is the heart of the town of Afragola , where smuggling has never stopped and two ' families ' - of which there are ongoing investigations - divide the deal and territory with about a hundred stations at various points of sale distributed of urban land. When seizures are made tight , stations moving in Cardito and neighboring countries .


From the main crossroads of the historic center to the peripheral streets the scene is always the same: guys in their twenties and thirties who say they can not find work or who have lost their fifties and sell contraband cigarettes for the entire day , often earning no more than twenty euro . You see them in overalls, sneakers with purse or backpack. A look that even studied to be recognized . Next to them a wooden display the same for all , made ​​in series by the same carpenter and provided by the ' system ' , which are put on display - just like in a shop window - some empty packets , as well as the boxes are provided in all polystyrene of the same size with perfectly sorted by brand cigarettes , plastic bags - all the same even those - to hide them if necessary, often in the cabins Enel. The most ingenious also build double bottoms in the trash cans .

There is no shortage of signs with rudimentary brands of cigarettes for sale , and the name , as in a real tobacconist, ' From Pablo Escobar cigarettes Em @ il and Morris ' . Fake cigarettes or that recall famous brands - like Jin Ling reminiscent of the Camel , but instead of the camel have printed a ram - Chinese , Arab or produced in Italy but destined to the foreign market and then re-enter illegally are also sold for € 2 to the package.

The deal for ' the organization ' varies from 200 to 900 Euros per day for each ' stall ' . The number of cigarettes provided changes according to the place where they are - whether or not the busiest - and in the days of the week: on Monday, for example, you sell more. The maximum quantity is on average always about 120 packets , to avoid triggering the arrest , which hardly happens .

Many guys that come from the store and already have gone to jail you ' recycle ' passing smuggling. If you are caught the goods are seized , is to produce minutes with a fine that varies according to grams - which is hardly ever paid - and take a complaint on the loose . The smugglers stopped almost always have the same lawyer and do not escape for one reason: the copy of the minutes is evidence that serves to prove their ' boss ' who have not stolen anything . He should also report the number of packages sold for each brand and the collection - which also mark the sum paid, and the rest given to the customer - on scraps of paper, often found during seizures . The ' clan ' and assign them to a new location after a day are on the road again .

" Montenegro , for a decade, under the government of Milo Djukanovic , has been a haven for illegal trafficking , providing impunity to criminals and the guaranteed supply of goods trafficked illegally using coastal resorts such as Bar , Kotor and Zelenica as logistical bases ." This is what writes the preliminary hearing judge of the Court of Bari Susanna De Felice in the written judgment with which , in February , 2013, acquitted " for not having committed the crime ," the Serbian businessman Stanko Subotic , who is accused of criminal association aimed at money laundering and smuggling cigarettes as part of the process on the alleged criminal organization that , between 1994 and 2002, would introduce contraband cigarettes in Puglia recycling million euro in Switzerland , Cyprus and other tax havens .
The process is resulted from the investigation of the then PM of the DDA Giuseppe Scelsi against the former President of the Republic of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic ( now prime minister ) and the former Minister of Finance of Montenegro , Miroslav Ivanisevic . Ivanisevic was acquitted in May 2010, while the position of Djukanovic was closed in April 2009 because of diplomatic immunity . "The collusion and patronage of the then President of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic with dangerous criminals and smugglers Italian and coverage and protection guaranteed to them by the Montenegrin police in the 90s, - writes the preliminary hearing judge - as is clear from the investigations carried out , by outcomes of wiretaps and the statements made by multiple characters inserted at the senior levels of the various criminal factions of the " sign" . "