Secondigliano Alliance

The Secondigliano Alliance (Italian: Alleanza di Secondigliano) is a strategic alliance of Camorra clans in Naples and its hinterland which controls drug trafficking and the extortion racket in many areas of Naples since the 1990s. The Alliance has branches in the Netherlands and in Spain, where it has as main objective the international drug trafficking and massive money laundering.

Secondigliano Alliance

Founded	Late 1980s
Founded by	Eduardo Contini Francesco Mallardo and Gennaro Licciardi
Founding location	Secondigliano, Naples
Years active	1980s-present
Territory	Various neighborhoods of Naples, Italy Presence also in Netherlands, Spain and Dominican Republic
Criminal activities	Racketeering, Fraud, Smuggling, Extortion, Drug trafficking, Money laundering, Political corruption, Human trafficking
Allies	Licciardi clan Contini clan Mallardo clan Di Lauro clan Rinaldi clan De Luca Bossa clan Aprea-Cuccaro clan Commisso 'ndrina and formerly Lo Russo clan (defunct)
Rivals	Giuliano clan (defunct) Mazzarella clan Misso clan (defunct) Sarno clan (defunct)

Early years

The main clans composing the alliance were the Licciardi clan, Contini clan and Lo Russo clan from Naples and the Mallardo clan from Giugliano. The alliance was initiated by Gennaro Licciardi who built his clan in the early 1990s in the Secondigliano, a northern suburb of Naples.[1] The alliance included Edoardo Contini and Francesco Mallardo, and dominated the Neapolitan underworld during the 1990s. When the three male leaders died or were imprisoned, Licciardi’s sister Maria Licciardi was left in charge of the alliance.[2] Under her leadership, the alliance become more organized, secretive, sophisticated and consequently more powerful.[3]

The reign of Maria Licciardi ran smoothly for many years without any problems, until a disagreement arose over a consignment pure unrefined heroin. In the spring of 1999, a large consignment of heroin arrived from Istanbul, Turkey. Licciardi decreed it should not be used, as it was too pure and strong for the junkies and would kill them. However, the Lo Russo clan disagreed and repackaged the shipment for sale on the streets. The sale of unrefined heroin resulted in the deaths of many drug addicts across Naples and caused great public outrage and resulted in massive police crackdowns on the Camorra clans. Many Camorristi were arrested and subsequently imprisoned.[4]

The Lo Russo clan eventually split from the alliance, causing disintegration and a bloody gang war, including the use of car bombs and bazooka attacks. Clans began fighting over turf, and attempted to destroy or take other clan's business.[1] When four clan members were murdered in her stronghold of Secondigliano, Licciardi was forced to retaliate. She mobilised her footsoldiers for an all-out counter-attack. The deadly gang wars resulted in nearly 120 deaths in Naples and the surrounding region. It was around this time that investigators became aware of Licciardi's existence.[4]

Maria Licciardi was arrested on June 15, 2001.[1] Her brother Vincenzo Licciardi took over as a supreme head of the Secondigliano Alliance along with Paolo Di Lauro and Edoardo Contini. Licciardi was arrested on February 7, 2008.[5]

Current status

In June 2019, the Italian police arrested more than 120 members of the Alliance in an anti-Camorra operation. The police also confiscated €130 million. Among those who were arrested were the wives of the bosses of the Bosti, Mallardo, Licciardi and Contini clans, but also their lieutenants, children, grandchildren and entrepreneurs who worked for the alliance.[6][7] The historical female boss Maria Licciardi managed to escape from the arrest in the operation.[8]

Despite the large number of police operations against it, the Alliance is still considered the most powerful organization in the Camorra.[9]

In May 2020, Patrizio Bosti, one of the most powerful Camorra bosses who is still alive and one of the leaders of the Secondigliano Alliance, was released from prison. Bosti also claimed inhumane treatment while in prison, and will be compensated by the Italian state. The Camorra boss, that was serving a prison sentence since his arrest in Spain in 2008, should have been released from prison in 2023, however he was charged for three years and the halfway between early release and the time calculated as credit for the "inhuman treatment".[10] According to the investigations, Bosti's freedom makes the Secondigliano Aliance even stronger, considering that Maria Licciardi is also free, this allows the organization to have two of its historical leaders out of prison.[11] On May 16, 2020, Bosti was rearrested. The new prison order concerns a recalculation of the sentence by the Emilia-Romagna judiciary, as he was serving his sentece in the region, on the basis of documents provided by the Naples Public Prosecutor. According to the authorities, Bosti has to serve another six years in jail.[12][13]

Activities

The Alliance is strongly active in Spain, in fact, numerous important members of the organization were arrested in the country, such as Paolo Di Mauro, deceased in 2018, considered by the authorities one of its top associates, particularly linked to the Continis.[14][15]

Seven members of the organization were also arrested in Spain, Netherlands, South America and in the Balkans, places where they were running illicit business on behalf of the Alliance.[16]

The Alliance is also believed to use Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic to launder money.[17]

The group is believed by the authorities to be allied with the Commisso 'ndrina in the trafficking and sale of cocaine and marijuana from South America, via the Netherlands.[18]

See also

• Camorra
• List of members of the Camorra
• Contini clan
• List of Camorra clans
• Licciardi clan
• Mallardo clan
• Giuliano clan
• Scissionisti di Secondigliano
• Gennaro Licciardi

References

1. Behan, See Naples and Die, pp. 262-3
2. Fiandaca, Women and the Mafia, p. 15
3. Godmother sends deadly message to her Mafia rivals, The Daily Telegraph, June 19, 2001
4. Italy's most wanted Mamma, The Guardian, June 30, 2000
5. Italy, U.S. target Mafia in massive raids, The Associated Press, February 7, 2008
6. "Camorra, scacco all'alleanza di Secondigliano: oltre 100 arresti". rainews.it. Rai News. June 26, 2019.
7. "Over 120 arrested in Italian mafia raids". theaustralian.com.au. The Australian. June 26, 2019.
8. "Blitz Secondigliano, Maria Licciardi 'a piccerella è in fuga". Fanpage.it. June 26, 2019.
9. Internapoli, Redazione (2019-10-25). ""Alleanza di Secondigliano e Mazzarella i clan più attenzionati", parla il Capo della Procura". InterNapoli.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-04-06.
10. "Chi è 'O Patrizio, il "maradona" della malavita napoletana". Voce di Napoli (in Italian). 2020-05-14. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
11. Rossi, Alberto (2020-05-14). "Napoli, scarcerato Patrizio Bosti: per il boss dell'Alleanza di Secondigliano anche un risarcimento". Teleclubitalia notizie da Napoli e dall'Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-05-14.
12. "Camorra: arrestato Patrizio Bosti, capo Alleanza di Secondigliano". rainews (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-05-16.
13. "Camorra: torna in cella il boss Patrizio Bosti, era stato scarcerato e risarcito per trattamento inumano". www.ilmattino.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-05-16.
14. Extremadura, El Periódico. "Detenidos en Barcelona dos capos de la camorra". El Periódico Extremadura (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-06-10.
15. "È morto il super boss della camorra, chi era Paolo Di Mauro 'o Infermiere, : "Comandava in città"". Voce di Napoli (in Italian). 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
16. "Camorra: scacco all'Alleanza; 12 ricercati, 7 all'estero". la Repubblica. June 28, 2019.
17. "Gli affari dell'Alleanza a Santo Domingo e l'ultimatum di Mallardo: "Ridatemi i soldi o finisce male"". teleclubitalia.it (in Italian). June 27, 2019.
18. Bitonto, Stefano Di (2020-05-14). "Scarcerato Patrizio Bosti, scuse e risarcimento dello Stato per il boss dell'Alleanza di Secondigliano". InterNapoli.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-05-15.

• Behan, Tom (2002), See Naples and Die: The Camorra and Organized Crime, London/New York: Taurus Publishers
• Fiandaca, Giovanni (ed.) (2007), Women and the Mafia: Female Roles in Organized Crime Structures, New York: Springer ISBN 0-387-36537-0