Social networks have become so powerful that even the young soldiers of the very secret Italian mafia have fallen under their spell and display themselves there without embarrassment.
In the region of Naples, Italy, the Camorra still dominates. This criminal organization, one of the most powerful on the planet, generates revenues of 6 billion Canadian dollars a year. In particular, it controls garbage collection and several other public contracts.
Our Bureau of Investigation spent a week at the heart of the playground of this Neapolitan mafia, which also has representatives in Quebec and Canada, to prepare a report that will be presented on the program I tonight at 9:30 p.m. on TVA.
Once quiet, the Camorra is changing. His old bosses are quietly replaced by very young clan leaders: the baby bosses.
Mark the territory
The TikTok application has become the new battleground of Massimiliano Esposito Junior, the son of a powerful godfather. His social media stagings scandalize Italian police, especially the videos of his 18th birthday. We see him partying with women, champagne and disc jockeys.
“The mafias of the digital civilization use social media as a territory and above all as a communication tool”, argues Marcello Ravveduto, professor of contemporary history at the University of Salerno.
The mafia is recruiting younger and younger people and many end up in prison. In Naples we met one of them, Gilberto (fictitious name), 15 years old and who committed his first crimes at 10 years old.
“We want to have the same things as the big boss. The beautiful car, the beautiful scooter, the money,” he describes.
Rehabilitate teens
Gilberto, like three of his friends, must take courses if he wants to settle his accounts with justice as soon as possible. In the padded studio in a suburb of Naples, the first notes of a hip-hop composition easily capture their attention. They are to compose a piece with artist Lucariello, who created the theme song for the hit series Gomorra on Netflix.
“He’s a legend to me,” rejoices one of them, whose face is barely visible under his white hoodie.
The organization Crisi come Opportunità, which supports them, believes in rehabilitation to make the mafia less appealing to these teenagers, but yet… they all respect the clan leaders and refuse to condemn their actions.
Two “baby bosses” of the mafia
CRESCENZO MARINO
Photo from Crescenzo Marino’s TikTok account
Crescenzo Marino poses with his Ferrari for his social media followers.
- 25 years
- TikTok followers: Over 44,600
Crescenzo Marino is one of the most popular Mafia baby bosses, son of one of the Camorra bosses.
In short videos posted on TikTok, he promotes an extremely luxurious lifestyle. He wears clothes and accessories from renowned designers, such as Dior, Versace and Balenciaga.
His 45,000 subscribers can also see him partying in exclusive clubs, where alcohol flows freely.
He prefers to drive some of the most expensive cars in the world. We see him in particular driving a Lamborghini or a Ferrari as he criss-crosses the streets of Paris during a trip.
MASSIMILIANO ESPOSITO JR
Photo taken from the TikTok account of Massimiliano Esposito Jr
- 19 years old
- Instagram Followers: Over 7500
- TikTok Followers: Over 5600
Massimiliano Esposito Junior, son of a prominent local mafia leader, is taking full advantage of his recent coming of age.
Photo taken from the TikTok account of Massimiliano Esposito Jr
He shares with his Instagram followers photos and videos of his outings in bars until the wee hours of the morning.
Photo taken from the TikTok account of Massimiliano Esposito Jr
On TikTok, Massimiliano Esposito Jr regularly appears in heavenly places, and spreads his money.
Champagne flows freely, and not only during drunken evenings. Any occasion seems good to drink straight from the bottle: a boat trip in Capri or a dinner in a chic restaurant on the Amalfi Coast, for example. He always poses proudly with several huge gold chains around his neck, and he shows without embarrassment the wads of money that allow him to afford all this luxury.
CANADA LAGING
Italy is the only country in the European Union to have a real law to counter the mafia.
The former judge of the anti-Mafia group Catello Maresca, always escorted by armed guards, tried to fight the Camorra for 25 years.
“It’s cancer,” he says. The judge does not hide his annoyance at the absence of specific laws for the mafia in Canada.
“We have long been aware of the seriousness of the phenomenon and the ability of the mafia to become a business,” he says.
Moreover, the Canadian authorities have very little information on the links between the Camorra and Canada.
In a confidential report dating from 2021, obtained by our Bureau of Investigation, the Canadian criminal intelligence services suggest taking a little more interest in this mafia.
A DISTRICT UNDER CONTROL
About ten kilometers from the center of Naples, huge triangular buildings suddenly rise up in the suburb of Scampia, one of the most dangerous in Europe.
Screenshots of the show JE
The huge buildings of Scampia, hideout of the Camorra in Naples, will soon be demolished.
It is in these buildings, which are called the “sails”, that the series Gomorrah, on Netflix, was filmed. The dwellings were built in the 1970s for the less wealthy classes, but fell under Mafia control in the 1990s.
“It has become the most important place for drug dealers in Europe, but the situation is improving,” says journalist specializing in Mafia affairs Antonio Talia.
As soon as we arrived in an area controlled by the Camorra, the first narcotics seller quickly warned the journalists not to film.
“There are people who have nothing to do with this business, but they must remain silent,” says rapper Lucariello, who was born in this suburb “abandoned by the state”.
The “sails” must soon be razed and only one building will be left in place, in memory of an era that the inhabitants hope is over.
Tracked by technology
The Italian police are using state-of-the-art equipment to hunt down Naples mobsters.
The Spanish quarter of Naples is one of the favorite hunting grounds of the Squadra Mobile, one of the Italian police forces fighting against the mafia.
We went to the offices of the Squadra, where facial recognition software allows access to the well-guarded floors from which members of the Camorra are watched.
Screenshot of the show JE
The Italian police have very sophisticated surveillance cameras.
The screen on which the city map is displayed takes up the space of an entire wall. At several intersections, red dots appear. By clicking on one of them, the technicians bring up images from one of the thousands of hidden cameras in the city center and its suburbs.
Screenshot of the show JE
The offices of the police squad that hunts the mafiosos of Naples.
We notice a man talking on his cell phone. In the adjoining room, the wiretaps overheard the entire conversation. The content cannot be revealed due to the ongoing investigation.
Energetic struggle
“We see everything and we hear everything,” boasts a policeman. “Look what we seized this week! adds another, pointing to the exhibit room, which is overflowing for upcoming trials.
Sixty arrests have just taken place in the Ponticelli district to dismantle the cartel made up of five mafia clans.
“The fight against the mafia is essential to give credibility to this country”, proudly asserts the head of the Squadra Mobile, Alfredo Fabbrocini.
Two days earlier, his police officers played movers. They evicted illegal tenants from a building by taking out all their furniture. The real tenants had been forced to abandon the premises by Camorrists.