Secondigliano Alliance

The Secondigliano Alliance (Italian: "Alleanza di Secondigliano") is a coalition of powerful Camorra clans that was formed in the mid-eighties in order to exercise a total dominion over all the criminal activities in the city of Naples. In the next few years, the Alliance managed to gain control of most of the illegal trafficking activities in the city, including drug trafficking, smuggling, extortion, cigarette and contraband smuggling. The list of powerful clans that constituted the alliance included the Mallardo clan, Licciardi clan, Contini clan, Lo Russo clan, Prestieri clan, Stabile clan, Ferone clan, Bosti clan and Bocchetti clan.

History

The Alliance was founded by three Camorra bosses: Edoardo Contini aka "'o Romano" (The Roman), Francesco Mallardo aka "Ciccio e 'Carlantonio" and above all, Gennaro Licciardi aka "a scigna". The three were bonded by strong family relationships: they married three women among their sisters. The cartel became the most powerful Camorra syndicate to rule Naples in a few years, becoming the effective leaders in the lucrative drug trafficking businesses, cocaine from South America and heroin from the Golden Crescent (imported through Albania). The alliance was named after the Secondigliano neighborhood

The organization is also supported by prominent personalities, often special in a specific area. Among them,
*Ciro Mantice, businessman in the clothing sector who is delegated the task to launder the illegal proceeds from drug trafficking and extortion into legal activities such as real estate and construction. This was a task that he did with perfection until 2000, when he was seized with nearly 100 billion lire.
*Ettore Bosti, criminal district of Amicizia, an area controlled by Contini and Mantice, specializes in managing the operations of the fire.
*Gaetano Bocchetti of Secondigliano, a confidant of Gennaro Licciardi and a great specialist in importing drugs and managing the retail sale of drugs in many shops within the city.

The alliance was dominant in the city's underworld for over ten years, even when wars were fought between rival groups. For instance, the years 1998-1999 when the Mazzarella clan rose in opposition to the alliance. The wars between the two resulted in the alliance's victory, but with heavy casualties on both sides. However, the alliance suffered a decline from the early nineties. Gennaro Licciardi died died from blood poisoning in the Voghera prison on August 3, 1994. Edoardo Contini was arrested on December 2007. Moreover, the Mallardo clan under Francesco Mallardo are now classified to be a part of the Casalesi clan by law enforcement and are still considered to be extremely powerful and dangerous.

References