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Revisiting Naples: clientelism and organized crime

2008; Routledge; Volume: 13; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13545710802218569

1469-9583

Felia Allum, Percy Allum,

Political Conflict and Governance

Abstract Naples and the Campania region have always been labelled one of the heartlands of corruption, clientelism and organized crime. All of which polluted the local economy, civil society and politics. The 'tangentopoli' crisis of 1993–94 marked an important turning point: the direct election of Antonio Bassolino as mayor of Naples was intended to introduce a new form of leadership and a rebirth for the city/region, but 12 years on, how much has really changed? This article will examine the Bassolino legacy and the state of organized crime to see whether there has been any fundamental change. Keywords: Naplesclientelism Camorra Antonio Bassolino Notes Quoted by Demarco (2006: 15). For a brief of post-war history of Neapolitan politics, see Ghirelli (Citation1998). The reference is not only to the great cholera epidemic of 1884 or to that virtually forgotten of 1912, but also that of 1973; on the former, see, in English, the letters of the famous Swedish doctor Axel Munthe, (Munthe 1887), and on the second, Snowden (Citation1995). For 1973, see Allum (1973a). See for example, Bassolino et al. (Citation1996). For its condemnation as a failure, see Salvagguilo (Citation2005). See, for example, the discussions in Briquet and Sawicki (Citation1998), Piattoni (Citation2001), and Kitschelt and Wilkinson (Citation2007). Indeed, more recently, the emphasis has been on its adaptability to historical change and the hypothesis of the development of clientelistic practices in advanced industrial states has been linked to demographic growth and welfare state expansion, see previous note. Donatella Della Porta (Citation1997: 36) has stressed 'the strong link between political corruption, which is summed up as an exchange of political decisions for money, and clientelism, which instead takes the form of an exchange of favours for electral support'. We draw on arguments and material developed in this (Allum Citation2003b) and other writings quoted below. The ideal types were systematized by Duverger (Citation1951) on the basis of Max Weber's famous analysis in Economy and Society (Weber Citation1978). 'A party is a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavour the national interest on some particular principle on which they are all agreed', definition which inspired Marco Minghetti to write in 1881: 'Il partito è un'assemblea di uomini riuniti per favorire in comune, dalle loro forze, il bene della nazione' (in Minghetti Citation1980: 28). The classic 1911 study of the mass party in its prime is Michels (Citation1968). Kirchheimer sought the reasons for the emergence of this party type in the socio-economic developments of the post-war period: the economic boom with the Keynesian social settlement that followed in its wake was responsible for the attenuation of class polarization and fragmentation with a change among West European populations towards more secular and private orientations (Kirchheimer Citation1966). The Members of the Constituent Assembly were aware that strong majorities by one of the principal political parties was likely to lead to a break-down in the democratic parliamentary experience as it had after the Great War in the1920s. Hence, the majority of them preferred weak 'centrist' coalitions to strong left or right majorities, see, inter alia, the discussion in Allum (Citation1993) and the literature quoted there. See Procura della Repubblica presso la pretura circondariale di Napolli (1993) 'Verbale della dichiarazione spontanea di Alfredo Vito del 26 aprile', quoted in Allum (Citation2003a: 158); a loyal elector of Vito has described the electoral organization perfected by Vito: 'in periodo elettorale si formano pi[ugrave] comitati elettorali con vari sedi. Ogni comitato fa capo a una persona'; un organizzatore che contatta uno o pi[ugrave] candidati alle elezioni garantendo un certo numero di voti, ottennendo in cambio le promesse che possono essere di vario genere: denaro, posti di lavoro, ecc. Dopo il periodo elettorale tutte queste sedi di comitato spariscono …' La Procura della Repubblica presso la Pretura circondoriale di Napoli (1992) 'Verbale d'interrogatorio di Pasquale Bracale del 6 novembre'. Corte di Assise di Napoli (2000) Processo 11/95 nei confronti di Archetti Biagi + 77, Sentenza del 28 Novembre, pp. 2981–2; the judgement was confirmed on appeal in which the Appeal Court felt it necessary to add that it was 'provata con certezza che il Gava era consapevole dei rapporti di reciprocità funzionale esistenti tra I politici locali della sua corrente e l'organizzazione camorristica di Alfieri, nonche della contaminazione tra la criminalità organizzata e le istituzioni locali del territorio campano', even if the Court had not 'acquisita prova certa circa specifici e concreti interventi, direttamente e consapevolmente posti in essere dal Gava a favore dell'organizzazione criminale facente capo all'Alfieri', even if it thought that 'gli elementi addotti dalla difesa a sostegno dell'assoluta estraneità dell'imputato al reato contestatogli non appaiono idonei ad escludere la valenza indiziaria degli altri elementi di prova', Corte di Appello di Napoli (2005), Sezione II, Sentenza del 29 aprile. For an historical analysis of this change in Naples, see Musella (Citation2000: ch. 1 and particularly 27–44); Della Porta (Citation1997: 46), calls them a 'new class of opportunists' and suggests that 'low financial remuneration for the local political class, with a consequent justification for seeking illegal earnings' might have facilitated this development. In any event, it was developments like these that led Katz and Mair to postulate the development of a new party type, the 'Cartel Party', see Katz and Mair (Citation1995). On these persons, see Cinquegrano and Pennarrola (Citation1990); for Pomicino: Cinquegrano and Pennarrola (Citation1991); for De Lorenzo: Cinquegrano and Pennarola (Citation1993); for Vito (the celebrated 'Mister Centomila voti'), Stella (Citation2001). Interrogatorio di Luigi Manco del 8 Marzo 1993, quoted in Brancaccio (Citation2002: 68); Pomicino claimed, in his defence, that: 'Il voto dei vicoli non è una forza; ho cercato di leg armi all'opinione che conta, a quella, se vogliamo, delle lobby', quoted in Allum (Citation2003a: 213); he understood by clientele: 'I tantissimi amici a favore dei quali si interviene per motivi pi[ugrave] disparati, dal posto di lavoro a un provvedimento legislativo. Niente di diverso, per altro, da quanto accade in tutti I Paesi democratici', in Geronimo (Citation2000: 158); for the description of one of Vito's loyal electors of the electoral organization that he perfected, see Allum (Citation2001). Figures in Tribunale di Napoli (1993) Ordinanaza di custodia cautelare in carcere contro Alfieri Carmine + 22 altri, sentenza n. 638 del 3 November, pp. 272, 263. Interrogatorio di Silvano Masciari, quoted in L'Espresso of 2 May 1993, p. 65; the Mayor of Naples, when accused in 1993 of receiving a bribe of 30 million lire from Alfredo Romeo, replied in his defence: 'Venne Romeo a casa con una vaglietta e 30 millioni dentro. Li prese e li utilizzai per la mia campagna elettorale. Un finanziamento al partito, tutto qu …' (quoted in Marino Citation1993: 129–30). A Neapolitan magistrate involved in investigating the 'bribesville' scandal in Naples wrote in 1994: 'Infatti, tangenti e mercato dei voti sono due facce della stessa medaglia: entrambi costituiscono il profitto della distribuzione degli appalti e del controllo dei flussi economici ed entrambi sono serviti a finanziare e a capire un consenso che altrimenti quel sistema politico non sarebbe pi[ugrave] in grado di assicurarsi', in Quatrano (Citation1994: 4); as Alfredo Vito said in reply to a question on the funding of his electoral campaigns: 'Bustarella?''No, non erano bustarelle: contributi volontari. Tra politici e imprenditori c'era, come dire, una sinergia', quoted in Stella (Citation2001: 291); and a businessman asked why he gave bribes told the investigating magistrate that: 'esisteva un rapporto stretto tra politici ed imprenditori nel senso che ogni politico era legato ad un imprenditore … Mi, io non ero legato a nessun politico, anche se partecipavo agli appalti, non ne vincevo mai uno e ciò spiega perché cercavo contatto con il deputato Alfredo Vito.' Procura del Tribuale di Napoli (1995) Interrogatorio di Corrado Ferlaino del 28 maggio. See, for example, in English, Furlong (Citation1991), Donovan (Citation1995) and Hine (Citation1993). For the comments of Italy's leading political scientist, see the writings of Giovanni Sartori (Citation1995, Citation2004). Another political scientist has written: 'L'illusione referendaria di poter risolvere tutti I mali del Paese da un sistema maggioritario è durata lo spazio di un'elezione', in Calise (Citation1999: 29); in English, see Ginsborg (Citation2003). On the role of small parties, see Conti (Citation2008) in this issue. The two quotations come from Lucarelli (Citation2001: IV); the preference vote was retained for the designation of councillors in all forms of local (i.e. regional, provincial and communal) elections. See Corbino (Citation2005b: II); one must not forget that control of Local Government Institutions and Agencies gives the Camorra clans control of local supply and service and contracts; Corbino (Citation2005a: I, IV). Often camorristi proposed their candidacy in order to make money out of their withdrawal, a common strategy of Italo-American gangs in US cities in 1930s, see Whyte (Citation1993: ch. VI, particularly 205–14). See Lucarelli (Citation2006: II), and Del Porto (Citation2006: III). A magistrate has explained how difficult it is to obtain credible evidence of 'voti di scambio' because voters are 'terrorized' that they will lose their jobs if they testify against a politician, see Piscitello (Citation1997). This would seem to be confirmed by the 'Fermo di indiziato di delitto' of the DDA of the Procura della Repubblica, del Tribunale di Napoli of 6 November 2006 which outlines the evidence against two candidates (R. Paladino, Fuorigrotta district, and G-P Nocerino, commune Forza Italia) of seeking Camorra assistance (boss Salvatore Zazo) to buy votes to be elected (pp. 622–55). For a biography one can consult the Wikipaedia site: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/SergioDeGregorio and D'Errico (Citation2006), Pennarollo (Citation2006: 49) and Rizzo and Stella (Citation2007: 17–19). This passing from party to party (what Corte Maltese (Citation2005: 6), has called, 'l'antica palude trasformistica') has a long tradition in Naples: the transfer of Monarchists, and Neofascists to Christian Democracy and between DC factions was particularly rife in 1950 and 1960s, of which the most notorious was the 'Magnifici sette' operation in 1961: seven councillors who abandoned Lauro's Monarchists for the DC , thus ensuring the Christian Democrats' control, first of the Province and then of the City of Naples (for details, see Allum Citation1973b: 289, 300–1; and formed part of the subplot of Francesco Rosi's prize-winning film, Le mani sulla città, 1964); this has continued in the last decade with Pomicino and Mastella, among others, abandoning the Centre–Right coalition for the centre–left; and Mastella and De Gregorio returning to the centre–right in 2008, because, as noted above, small parties have exaggerated blackmail power. In fact, Mastella's withdrawal from the Centre–Left coalition brought down the Prodi Government in February 2008, see below. See 'Contributi privati' (2007: 14) and the comment by Scalfari (Citation2007: 1, 21). The Guardia di Finanza found in the house of a well-known camorrista and smuggler Rocco Cafiero ('O Capariello), considered part of the Nuvoletta clano of Marano, several cheques for [euro]4,000 signed by De Gregorio, see Bianconi (Citation2007a: 19). D'Avanzo (Citation2007: 1, 6–7). As Berlusconi said, 'una piccola assenza'. 'Al Senato un'assenza con l'esigua maggioranza del Centro-sinistra ha il valore di un voto contrario'; according to Bianconi (Citation2007b: 11): 'nel "contratto" … nell'impegno al finanziamento con parecchie miglaia di euro del nuovo movimento del Senatore trasfuga, sanato nel maggio scorso, ci sarebbe scritto che I soldi sarebbero stati versati in cambio dei voti contrari al governo 'fino alla caduta' dell'esecutivo guidato da Romano Prodi …'. The charge was that of inducing the manager to 'dirigere le sue funzioni per procacciare agli appartenenti al partito UDEUR favori di contenuto patrimoniale, quali l'attribuzione di appalti, posti di lavoro, incarichi dirigenziali nella carriera amministrativa e sanitari', see Del Porto (Citation2008c: III); in rejecting the charges Signora Lonardo Mastella declared: '… non mi pare che la raccomandazione in Italia sia un reato …'; large extracts of the magistrate's 'interrogatorio' of Annunziata can be found on the web: http/espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio//1977948: 'caso Lonardo', l'interrogatorio a Luigi Annunziatella (31/1/08); for Mastella's local power system, see G.-L. Di Feo , 'Ci manda Mastella' on the same site. For a description of the physical situation, see the reportage of Popham (Citation2008: 26–7). For the political background to the policy, see Cilento (Citation2003: 273–306). See the critique of the policy by the Assise della Città di Napoli e del Mezzogiorno in 2006 and Raimondi (Citation2006). Del Porto (Citation2008b: II); the President of the Court of Accounts in his speech inaugurating the current Judicial Year dedicated a chapter to the 'Emergernza rifiuti' in Campania, in which he declared: 'la gestione straordinaria dell'emergenza rifiuti è del tutto inappropriata … ancora di recente in sede di audizione per lindagine sui costi della politica sono stati evidenziati alcuni casi esemplari di cattiva gestione delle risorse … . L'uso si è fatto dello strumento del commissario straordinario con la conseguente deresponsabilizzazione degli enti locali, alla mancata l'quidazione degli enti inutile, alla scarsa trasparenza, delle operazioni di cartolarizzazione associati al sostanziale mancato conseguimento di migliorare l'efficienza gestione', quoted in Sannino (Citation2008a: II); see also Gomez (Citation2008: 67–70). The literature on this and other scandals is large, some of which is discussed in Allum (Citation2005), and particularly, pp. 199–223. Murders in Naples: 1983–92: 1,749; 1993–2002: 1,227; 2001–07 (October): 650; figures taken from Direzione Investigative Antimafia, Semester reports, Rome. For more information about Annalise Durante, see Andolfo (Citation2005). See for example, Franco Roberti's (head of the anti-Mafia pool in Naples) recent comments: he defines as '"impressionante", La carica di odio che ispira queste donne, il cui obiettivo principale non è tanto la vendetta, quanto gli interessi economici' ('Napoli'2008). 'The Italian Dictionary defines Ecomafie as the Mafia sector that manages activities highly dangerous to the environment such as the dumping of toxic and hazardous waste and the illegal building industry' (Massari and Monzini Citation2004: 303). On this see the penultimate paragraph of the previous section and relevant footnotes. See, for example, in the district of Casalnuovo in Naples, eighty buildings (450 flats) all built on green sites without a building permit, Legambiente (Citation2007: 103). See 'Consigli comunali sciolti', available online at: http://camera.it/_bicamerali/leg15/commbicantimafia/documentazionetematica/23/schedabase.asp (last accessed 15 January 2008). Prefettura di Napoli, Comune di Afragola (1998) Relazione della Commissione di Accesso, 1505/SDS/GAB/EELL of 27 November; but see also press reports above (note 26). The last one to be dissolved was Lusciano (CE) in October 2007. For details and a critique of the policies of Bassolino's two city administrations (1994–2000) in the context of the city's post-war urban development, see Allum (Citation2003c: 515–20) and also, Demarco (Citation2007: 177 ff). Calise sees in the 'personal party' a continuation of party factions (correnti): 'I micropartiti notabiliari, che ficcano numerosissi in questi anni, si innestanmo su un precedente consolidato, quello della corrente di partit. Ma sono adesso costretti a navigare per conto proprio in mare aperto, sfruttando le (molte) opportunità che il nuovo sistema elettorale offer loro' (Calise Citation2000: 57–8); at the local level with reference to Naples, one can see Allum and Mattina (Citation2000). It should perhaps be said that Neapolitan politicians in general, like their national counterparts, prefer to be 'big fish in a small pond' rather than 'small fish in a big pond'. The literature on the 'crisis of the political party' is abundant: a recent discussion of the literature is in Mastropaolo (Citation2006) and the literature quoted there. See, for example, with particular reference to Campania, Rossito (Citation2008: 60–2); Salvi and Villone (Citation2007); one can also follow the polemic which this thesis provoked on the pages of Il Corriere del Mezzogiorno in December 2006, now in Demarco (2006: 212–3); this was incidentally the basis of the recent charges against Signora Lonaro Mastella, outlined above.