Il Diavolo ti Conosci

As kids, we would always whisper of the Camorra, the lawless organized crime group in Campania. They always had a stronghold on Castel Volturno and drugs and prostitution were their specialties. The legitimate faction was known to be the Coppola brothers who created and owned everything in the area. Their display of money and wealth was in the names of the businesses and real estate ventures in the area and they were respected for their vision and influence. To know them was to be close to success and opportunity, at least that’s how the poor Italian kids saw them. “Mr. Coppola owns this,” and “Mr. Coppola can fix that,” was the common saying. As kids, we knew it was important to have ties to them and we glorified the idea. It was always understood that the Coppolas had ties to the Camorra. The Camorra’s dealings went on appurtenant to the citizens living there; while the citizens paid dues in some way and were kept out of harm’s way. The unfortunate citizen saw something they shouldn’t and didn’t have the wits to keep omertà or they refused to pay. Angela and I washed dishes and served espresso at a local pizzeria for slices of pizza in the summer. One day the business was burnt, turned upside down, and the kind owner never to be seen again. We would look in the windows to see the dismantled interior thrown around and say, “Camorra,” knowingly. It extended to the Americans too, we’d hear the adult conversations--"did you hear about…so and so…reassigned by the Navy for what they saw.” Even the Navy didn’t want to get involved.

Organized crime was a reality in Castel Volturno. Law and order, according to the Italians in the area were understood to be guidelines or suggestions; like the street signs and traffic lights, they were optional. Southern Italy, as Barzini highlights in his book is often the neglected child of the country, where everyone knows if you need something accomplished it is cost-effective to know the friend of a friend who knows a guy that could get it done. Nepotism was in the fabric of business and bureaucratic dealings and very little could be accomplished without the guidance of someone in the know. In business and in bureaucracy, without this intrinsic knowledge, everything was “doppo domani” but domani never came. To get the guy, that knew how to do the thing, one needed to find a job for the guy’s brother-in-law or a spot in some salon for his sister. Deals came earmarked with under-the-table special concessions, in Italy, this is called organized crime, in the United States, it’s called politics.

Most of Southern Italy functions in this way, but where Angela and I lived it was magnified because Villagio Coppola was built in the 1960s fabricated on crimes. It was the type of sophisticated ambitious crime that from the outside seemed to do more for the area than any government official ever did. Vicenzo and Cristoforo Coppola had a beachside paradise vision and when the rules interfere with accomplishing one’s dreams, it is fortunate for the dreamer in Italy, that rules are merely suggestions. The brothers managed to conduct one of the largest illegal land grabs in Italy by creating the utopia of Villagio Coppola illegally without acquiring any permissions. For the citizens and Camorra that operated there, it was a beautiful, albeit not perfect, community of eat-work-play and NATO housing. The locals were prospering off American’s abroad and the Camorra were prospering off crimes of pleasure. Manual labor jobs in construction were booming and locals were able to own a piece of something for themselves and improve conditions for their children. Villagio Coppola was commercialized and marketed to a general public that ate it up as a move toward modernity and prosperity. Who could ever see the crime when the view was so spectacular? The Coppolas kept their design safe and prosperous while the clans of Camorra became rich on illegal activities in the back alleys.

The Coppolas had close ties to the state until the 1990s, thirty years after their initial investment. I imagine there were some protections in place for them as the allies of the state turned a blind eye to the crime, but when state relations weakened, they finally went after the brothers. When the NATO housing lease ended, the last of the Americans moved out in the early 90s (including myself). With this huge source of local income gone and the locals losing legitimate business many soon closed up and left with the changing times. The Coppola brothers were charged and condemned for their crimes of illegal building and environmental destruction in 1995 and the lands were confiscated by the state. The state in return gave over some of the properties to those affected by the volcano eruption from years earlier, but over time, even they left. The NATO towers were demolished in 2000 and a stream of illegal immigrants moved into the area to occupy other abandoned dilapidated buildings.

The 21st century has seen Castel Volturno very much controlled by fear and crime, but it is now on all the streets and not just in the back alleys. It is a mishmash of those trying to preserve what little they have left and those who have nothing attempting to carve out space. Those who have lived their whole lives in Castel Volturno, like Angela, are proud of what they have and resentful of those who treat the area as their criminal breeding ground. There is a deep bitterness toward the immigrants who are bringing the new Nigerian mafia into Castel Volturno and a longing for the return of the old Coppola - Camorra alliance. Things were at least better back then. In a strange twist the Coppola family led by one of the daughters, Cristiana Coppola, will be the champion to regenerate and reinvigorate the area again after being awarded the contract for rebuilding the marina and managing it for the next sixty years. I am positive some of the old residents will be more than pleased to have the devil they know return.