Naples. Votive chapels to saints and madonnas, built illegally by local members of the Contini clan , to exploit, even sacrilegiously, their criminal power and thus raise money through collections.
This also emerges from the investigation conducted by the Naples Carabinieri and coordinated by the DDA, which yesterday led to the arrest of 11 top members of the Vasto Arenaccia gang.
The Camorra's tendency to combine the sacred with the profane dates back decades, but in recent times, as the informers have said, in addition to being a fashion and a status symbol, it had also become a business.
And speaking of the Contini clan, two years ago, law enforcement dismantled some of them. The one who spoke about the phenomenon was the informer Teodoro De Rosa.
” … In the various streets there are also several votive chapels, each of which refers to a local referent; and the presence of this specific chapel indicates that the single procession is dedicated to that chapel and that the money collected goes to the families of the mafioso of reference of the chapel.
It happens that a single procession makes several stops in front of different chapels and thus collects money destined for the different mafia families to which the individual votive chapels refer.
This money is collected by Gennaro Manetta together with two twins who have nothing to do with the clan but take the money for the processions; they are from the family…, omitted…; they also prepare the religious flags to be used in the processions; these flags bear the names of various mafia families: Bosti, Contini, etc.
“The money from the collections goes directly to the bosses”
These flags are kept in the churches, run by the priests. I'll show you the location of the various chapels:[…] still in the Amicizia district, Genny Manetta's chapel in the illegal garden of his home.[…] I can't remember the names of the parish priests involved, except for that of a certain Don Gaetano who lived in the Amicizia district about fifteen years ago and even had us hold clan meetings in the church, giving us the keys to the church.
The Madonna dell'Arco association is managed by Manetta, Maglione Ciro, Tettuccio (brother of Ciro Maglione); by the Granata family; by my uncles Pietro and Salvatore De Rosa; or 'pè (his surname is Procopio), relative of Galletta Luigi.
They have their headquarters in a space inside the church of Rione Amicizia, where they keep the flags with the names of the bosses. They are also able to indicate the colors of the flags.{…} These priests have a relationship with the mother of the Aietas. Maurizio Scapolatiello of the ambulances is also in this association.
Returning to the question of the authorization of associations; for at least 15 years the consent of the priests has become necessary to create and manage these associations. It is Gennaro Manetta, as far as I know, who collects the money and takes care of having this consent.
These associations of the Madonna dell'Arco up to 10 years ago were all abusive, that is, they had no recognition. I know because I was there too. These associations of the Madonna dell'Arco up to 10 years ago were all abusive, that is, they had no recognition.
I know because I was there. The votive chapels that represent a representative of the clan's area were erected completely illegally on public land . For example, under Gennaro De Luca's house there is the chapel he had built; it is a chapel of the Madonna dell'Arco; while Luigi Galletta has Padre Pio.
And each of these referents is keen to have the chapel because when they go on collections they collect money that goes to the local referent of the clan. [...] Returning to the list: - the chapel of De Luca Giovanni, brother of De Luca Gennaro known as or muntato in block 8 of the Amicizia district ... ".
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Chronicles of Campania
Camorra: Here's how Gennaro Russo 'o suricillo ran the Contini clan's commercial "safe."
Gennaro Russo, aka "'o Suricillo," was on the run at dawn yesterday, inside a car along Naples' Asse Mediano.
