Brooklyn Camorra
 A 1918 Brooklyn Daily Eagle report on Camorra testimony; trial allegations are not a complete independent organizational chart | |
| Origins | |
|---|---|
| Founding Location | Brooklyn, New York City |
| Territory | Downtown Brooklyn and Navy Street Coney Island and southern Brooklyn |
| Lineage | |
| Subsets | Navy Street gang Coney Island gang |
| Profile | |
| Structure | Loose umbrella of autonomous or allied Neapolitan gangs |
| Activities | Gambling and card games Robbery and burglary Extortion Narcotics trafficking Murder and violent enforcement |
| Politics | |
| Notable Members | Pellegrino Morano (Coney Island) Alessandro Vollero (Navy Street) Andrea Ricci (Navy Street) Leopoldo Lauritano (Navy Street) |
| Enemies | Morello–Terranova organization |
| Activity | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Years Active | Early 1900s–1918 |
| Dissolved Date | 1918 |
| Dissolution Cause | Informant testimony Trials and convictions Factional collapse |
The Brooklyn Camorra is a historical umbrella for several Neapolitan and Campanian criminal gangs active in Brooklyn during the early twentieth century. It was not one continuously centralized organization. Its two best-documented components were the Navy Street gang and Coney Island gang, which cooperated in some ventures and violence while retaining different leaders and bases.[1]
Structure and constituent gangs
Pellegrino Morano headed the Coney Island group from his Santa Lucia restaurant. Critchley identifies Andrea Ricci and Leopoldo Lauritano as leading counterparts around Navy Street, while Alessandro Vollero became another prominent Navy Street figure.[2] Testimony described bosses and workers, but other participants insisted Navy Street was “not officially a gang” because relationships were informal and members were not salaried. The umbrella should therefore not be presented with a single fixed Brooklyn command chart.
The groups engaged in gambling, card games, robbery, burglary and violent enforcement; particular testimony also associated Navy Street figures with cocaine trafficking. Participation in one business or meeting did not prove permanent membership in every Camorra operation.[1]
Mafia–Camorra conflict
Brooklyn Camorra figures initially cooperated with Sicilian and East Harlem criminals in some rackets. Their relations with the Morello–Terranova organization deteriorated as leaders competed over gambling, territory and revenge killings. Navy Street was reportedly divided over assassinating the Morellos, while Morano and Coney Island figures pressed for war.[3]
On September 7, 1916, gunmen killed Nicolo “Nick” Terranova and Eugenio Ubriaco in Brooklyn. The killings became a central event in the Mafia–Camorra conflict.[4]
Prosecutions and aftermath
Ralph Daniello's cooperation with investigators exposed murders, meetings and relationships within the Brooklyn groups. Trials in 1917–1918 produced long sentences for Morano, Vollero and others and destroyed the two gangs' existing leadership structures.[5]
The collapse did not produce a documented wholesale transfer of the Brooklyn Camorra to Salvatore D'Aquila. Some surviving individuals and rackets entered later Mafia coalitions, including D'Aquila's widening sphere, while others disappeared or reorganized separately. The safest description is absorption of elements—not acquisition of the Navy Street and Coney Island gangs intact.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 David Critchley, The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891–1931 (New York: Routledge, 2009), pp. 106–134.
- ↑ Critchley, Origin of Organized Crime, pp. 108, 118–126.
- ↑ Critchley, Origin of Organized Crime, pp. 112–118.
- ↑ “Two Die in Pistol Fight in Brooklyn Street”, The New York Times, September 8, 1916.
- ↑ “Camorra Secrets Revealed at Trial”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 15, 1918, p. 18.