ackmail of all
kinds in addition to ordinary road-robberies. Its influence grew to be
considerable. Princes were in league with and shared the profits of the
smugglers: statesmen and dignitaries of the church, all classes in fact,
were involved in the society's misdeeds. From brothels the Camorra drew
huge fees, and it maintained illegal lottery offices. The general
disorder of Naples was so great and the police so badly organized that
merchants were glad to engage the Camorra to superintend the loading and
unloading of merchandise. Being non-political, the government did not
interfere with the society; indeed its members were taken into the
police service and the Camorra sometimes detected crimes which baffled
the authorities. After 1848 the society became political. In 1860, when
the constitution was granted by Francis II., the _camorristi_ then in
gaol were liberated in great numbers. The association became
all-powerful at elections, and general disorder reigned till 1862.
Thereafter severe repressive measures were taken to curtail its power.
In September 1877 there was a determined effort to exterminate it:
fifty-seven of the most notorious camorristi being simultaneously
arrested in the market-place. Though much of its power has gone, the
Camorra has remained vigorous. It has grown upwards, and highly-placed
and well-known camorristi have entered municipal administrations and
political life. In 1900 revelations as to the Camorra's power were made
in the course of a libel suit, and these led to the dissolution of the
Naples municipality and the appointment of a royal commissioner. A
government inquiry also took place. As the result of this investigation
the Honest Government League was formed, which succeeded in 1901 in
entirely defeating the Camorra candidates at the municipal elections.

The Camorra was divided into classes. There were the "swell mobsmen,"
the camorristi who dressed faultlessly and mixed with and levied fines
on people of highest rank. Most of these were well connected. There were
the lower order of blackmailers who preyed on shopkeepers, boatmen, &c.;
and there were political and murdering camorristi. The ranks of the
society were largely recruited from the prisons. A youth had to serve
for one year an apprenticeship so to speak to a fully admitted
camorrista when he was sometimes called _picciotto d' honore_, and after
giving proof of courage and zeal became a _picciotto di sgarro_, one,
that is