A terrible, terrible tragedy.

[Occhidiangela]

1. nono juts euro's now...maybe you can still exchange the lire at the bank, nbut I'm not sure. Funny though that in Holland two months after we went from gulden to euro everybody talked in euro. In Italy after 5 years still most people talk in lire. This country is in many social and ethical aspects very very oldfashioned.

2. did you read the new book about Napoli and the camorra? Gomorra. Viaggio nell'impero economico e nel sogno di dominio della camorra
Autore Saviano Roberto
Napoli, very bella as a historic city...not very bella to walk around anymore.....
3.IVA should be 20 % but it gets paid directly (so included in the price you see in europe) furthermore I think coffee is without IVA because it is a primary neccesity to survive.
The dollar is now worth around 1500 lire (or 0.75 euro) in your time (I'm not sure exactly when that was it was probably different.

I was very aware of La Comorra while I lived in Bella Napoli. Right before we moved into our house, in 1995, a guy who was freelance drug dealing in our local area (via San Nullo near Licola, a bit north of Naples, near a waterpark called "Aquaflash") was executed by the old 9mm to the back of the head. While we were there, we'd get briefs from the NCIS guys, who worked hard with the Carabinieri and the Italian Federal police, and La Guardia di Finanza, to curtail American involvement in the local drug scene. A big bust in 1996 found 12 Americans distributing (called the White Horse ring) drugs in coordination with local mob persons.

When we left in 1998, there was already some trouble in Naples over the drug trade in the Campagnia Regione. The old school Camorra families were generally against casual use of murder and execution, except in certain cases, and ascribed to a complex code of honor. They were running into new gangs encroaching on their territory who were not so traditional. The frequency of gun crime and violent crime was on the rise, after it had gone down for nearly a decade. There were some Albanian gangs who, thanks to mass migrations (illegal) from Albania after The Wall came down, and Albania fell into chaos, slowly infiltrated Southern Italy to challenge La Camorra in the drug, prostitution, and illicit garment trade.

It appears that the Grand Crown faction from Puglia may be moving north and west.

It is nearly ten years later, and I see that Naples is once again a playground for the underground, and La Camorra is having trouble staying on top. How sad. Bella Napoli has so many nice parts to it, I am sorry to see it regress. :(

Occhi