Neapolitans take stand against Mafia turf war

Christmas might be just a few days away, but here in Forcella, a neighborhood in the heart of old Naples, you'd hardly know. There are no decorations festooned across these dark, decaying alleyways - just the usual strings of drying jeans and underwear.

That's not because the locals have lost their faith. Far from it. They are among Italy's humblest and most devout Catholics. But nobody here is celebrating; the entire street is still in mourning.

Nine months ago, on a balmy spring evening, 14 year-old Annalisa Durante was chatting with friends outside her front door, ignoring her mother's calls that dinner was ready.

A minute later, she was grabbed and used as a human shield by a local drug pusher being pursued and shot at by a rival on a moped. A bullet killed her instantly; the gangsters disappeared.

Annalisa is just one of many innocent Neapolitans caught in the line of fire between members of the local version of the Mafia, the Camorra. In the past two months, more than 30 people have been killed in the bloodiest criminal turf war to rock this city in years.

Authorities are taking aggressive action - more than 1,000 paramilitary police have been brought in and dozens of suspected clan members have been arrested - but the killings have not stopped. Two locals were shot Monday.

The splurge in violence has led some to refer to Naples as the Wild West of Italy.

And yet, as if reviving the citizens' justice of countless Westerns, a small group of Neapolitans are beginning to stand up to the lawlessness.

In Forcella, where the bullet marks that killed Annalisa still scar the shutters of a closed shop, the Durante family is not prepared to let their Camorra neighbors win control of the streets.

"They have destroyed us. But we will not leave," says Carmela Durante, An- nalisa's mother, dressed in black after her daily visit to her daughter's grave. "We were born here. If we leave we will be letting the criminals win."

Mrs. Durante does not want revenge. "I just want justice so that these people learn that they cannot get away with this any more," she says.

Her husband, Giovanni, is hoping that Annalisa's alleged killer, from a family who live a few streets away, will stay in jail for life. But Mr. Durante is aware that he could be free again in just a few years.

"As long as the criminals know they won't be locked up for long, there's nothing to stop them," he says, gazing at the boarded-up cinema further along the street. "They ought to build a big prison and throw all the lowlife inside. Everyone knows who they are."

At San Giorgio ai Mannesi, the young local priest, Don Luigi Merola, is determined to change Forcella.

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