The prosecutor of minors: "As in war, Naples must be locked down"

The statements made by Emilia Galante Sorrentino, deputy prosecutor at the Naples Juvenile Court, to ANSA and then posted online are bound to spark controversy.

The PM makes a bitter but careful reflection and analysis of the situation of youth crime in the city after the latest murder of the 18-year-old with no criminal record Archangel Correra died at the hands of his cousin Renato Benedetto Caiaphas while handling a gun.

"We are at war. And in such contexts, the army must be deployed. Unfortunately, I say it with a heavy heart, the city must be sealed off with police and the army and not only until midnight because after that time the street is at the mercy of criminals. And then cameras are needed everywhere because there are primary rights to protect compared to what could be the right to privacy".

For the magistrate "we are faced with two different and parallel situations", because "on one hand we have a Camorra 2.0 that also arms minors, uses them, as for drug dealing, also to shoot, trusting in a justice system with a looser mesh, on the fact that they are more familiar with the territory. A new way of acting of the Camorra".

“On the other hand, there is a cultural problem: it is a Camorra mentality that is spreading among young people in the sense that it is a model that fascinates them because it makes them feel strong, like a pack and in control of the territory. This is also due to a misunderstood sense of belonging to a group”.

“There is a cultural problem: it is a Camorra mentality that is spreading among young people.”

And in this regard he cites the example of the fight between students of the two Neapolitan high schools in Chiaia. “Episodes that also happened in the past, but with a violence not serious up to this point because now there is a different cultural problem, there is a bad way of understanding belonging to a group.

And in this we must also make ourselves heard by the principals, by the educators. It is a cultural problem: a Camorra mentality is spreading. A Camorra way of resolving conflicts, even the most banal ones like a stepped on shoe, a girlfriend who is with someone else".

“In the space of a few years we have gone from headbutts in the mouth, to knives, to guns…”

And of course the reflection focuses on the problem of weapons that are circulating. "We have gone in the space of a few years from headbutts in the mouth, to knives, to guns, all often aggravated by drug abuse. It is extremely easy to get a weapon, with little money the kids are able to buy them from social media or on the internet.

Also because, always with little money, they manage to have weapons modified by shady factories that are born as blank-firing pistols and that become suitable for shooting”.

And for this reason the PM speaks of “A 'war' scenario that, as such, requires strong measures: “locking down the city and electronic eyes everywhere. But alternative educational models are also needed. “There is a problem of investment policy in culture, schools, training and work”.