Micaela

Micaela is the second wife of Robert Saviano's father. She is a lot younger and comes from Romania. Saviano described her as a Romanian who left her country without knowing what she would be up to. All that she knows is that she is leaving her country; and that just by leaving Romania is fortunate enough. This is true with other Romanians.

In the Philippines, there are also a lot of Micaelas. Micaelas who leave our country, not to mention their families, to seek fortune somewhere else. But, is it fortune enough that they have this chance? A lot of Filipino women also ended up like Micaela, married to a local guy from that country and have kids, too. Is it fortune enough to be married to a local guy of that country? A good many of them left after signing a teaching contract, only to find out that they will end up as nannies and/or domestic helpers, but they do not complain: is it fortune enough that they have a job? A job that pays a little more than what they get in our country?

There are so many of these fortunes that I would rather not talk about. Probably, it is still fortune enough.

I guess sometimes it really pays to read about someone else's fate. Like to read something else about other country's. I don't know if it fortune enough to know that our country is not far from different from Micaela's. But does it really make it any different to know that your country has something in common with another country? Even if it is with regard to these same situations?

Well, I guess it is still fortune enough to know that these people - whether from my country or somewhere else - are fortunate enough to always look into the brighter side of things.

It IS really enough fortune to not lose hope that everything would be better than not doing anything at all.

The Cut, The Visitor and The Kleenex

The cut is essential: caffeine, glucose, mannitol, paracetamol, lidocaine, benzocaine, amphetamines - but in emergencies even talc and calcium for dogs are used.  The cut determines the quality, and a bad cut attracts death, police and arrests.  A bad cut clogs the arteries of commerce.

What I read today is really something that I would not forget.  The thing is, from the wholesalers, 30 kilos of cocaine can become 150 kilos or even 200 depending on the cut.  The cut is very important to drug dealers.  A good cut will bring profit, will make you famous.  A bad cut will, like Saviano said, attract death, police and arrests.

How do you test a cut?

You test the cut with the Visitors.  They are the addicts desperately in search for cheap hits.  The men of the clan organize a meet up with these Visitors and give them hits for a very cheap rate.  On this particular day, the Visitors got suspicious about the cut that everyone started to stay away from the men.

A couple was there waiting.  The man looks desperately in need for a hit.  His girlfriend took the syringe from the men and jabbed it on his neck.  After a while, the man started to sway with his mouth frothing, then jerked and fell to the ground, stiff and closed his eyes.

One of the men called someone and said that he (referring to the man on the ground) looks dead to him.  He then started to do a violent cardiac massage, thrusting his foot on the man's chest.  The girlfriend started shouting, telling the man to stop what he's doing and that he's doing it wrong, told the man to stay away from them or she'll shoot.  The man made another call:  Oh, the Kleenex, he said.  He laid a piece of Kleenex just under her boyfriend's nose.  This is to test if her boyfriend is still breathing.  He started to move, and again on the phone he said, "He's dead."

The man left, and the rest of the Visitors started to follow.  Saviano stayed behind and was surprised with what happened.

The girlfriend moved on top of her boyfriend, put her pants down and peed on his face, making th Kleenex stick on his nose and face.  After a few seconds, the boyfriend started to move, regaining his consciousness.

Is it because of her piss?

This is how they test the quality of the cut.  The bring it to the outskirts of Naples and sell them cheap to the Visitors.  If it is a bad cut and brings someone dead, there would be no investigations because they see it as a case of overdose.  If a bad cut goes out to the market without any testing and it kills someone, it will entail an autopsy and an investigation.

So it's better to it this way.  The Visitors are the guinea pigs.

More Business

The System revolves not just around the textile mafia.  It also maintains a vast empire on drug trafficking where many people are getting rich dealing with drugs.


But there came a point when they saw the opportunity to do business with the Chinese. The high-tech market was tested and when they proved it to be genuine, digital cameras, video cameras and power tools with brands such as Bosch, Hammer, etc., were marketed all over Europe.  The Secondigliano System has actually foreseen this opportunity even before their government did.  I am wondering if this is what started the global demand for cheap digital and video cameras around the world.  Back then when I was in Dubai, I got the chance to go the the Chinese-dominated place they call the International City.  It’s like a big warehouse-like supermarket where you can find almost everything that you need and want, made in China.  Mobile phones are everywhere as well as cheap clothes, mobile accessories, furniture and appliances.


Everything was doing fine and everyone was getting along very well with The System.  Until one of the bosses initiated transformation.


I actually lost track of this transformation that somewhere around after the middle of the story, I began to think of how it was shifted to drugs and all its structure that I had to go back to the first few chapters to find out and refresh myself.


It all pointed back to the suburbs of Secondigliano and Scampia, under the hands of one of the families, the Licciardi family.


La Scimmia – the monkey – was the one who started the metamorphosis.  He transformed the place – Scampia, a place without a shopping center, or even a store, yes, this awful, into a drug sales hub.


One of the strategies they implemented to get this place started was getting almost everybody to be in the business.  They even have a plan suited for pensioners: if you invested your 300 euros worth of pension, you’d double your money’s worth in only a month’s time.  I was really surprised that they were able to even tap this segment of the market.  You might think that this is a little risky since you don’t have anything to hold on to but their word.  But in an economy that has grown sick and tired of trusting banks, this proves to be more of an advantage since, as Saviano said, the profit outweighed the risk.

System

Around here, there is The System. But as Saviano said, it is a mechanism rather than a structure. It is how the clan operates the criminal economy. The economy that they started to dominate. Operating at the outskirts North of Naples, almost nothing is impossible there.

In this place, you can find what they call true fakes. If you are looking for a brand and quality for a cheap price, you can get what you are looking for right here. The only thing missing is what they call the authority of the motherhouse. But who cares? Does anyone ever asks you when you’re walking in the streets if that Gucci you’re wearing has the official authority of the owner?

Around here, true fake is one word short of the original. Where it came from, nobody knows. Or should I say somebody knows but chooses not to talk about it, to just keep quiet at all.

Pasquale

Saviano became friends with one of the common people. His name is Pasquale and he is connected with the textile industry, or textile mafia, if you like to put it that way. I would not go into details as to how the textile mafia works around here, but I am telling you, you would be surprised if you read and find out. One of the things I found out is how it was possible that there were so many surplus production of signature brands in the market that looks as good as the original. I couldn’t believe at first but having thought about it long after, all I could say is, “Yeah, sure, that’s really how it is. That’s why how it comes to that.” The fact that so many of these clothes are closed to if not equal to the original one.

Pasquale is a very talented man. But like a lot of people all over the world, he wasn’t given a chance. Or should I say, the chance was taken away from him. He remained poor and his talent unrecognized. He works as a designer for one of the textile businesses in Italy, who in turn sell their business to big brand names in the U.S. and some place else. What he gets out of this is a little more than enough to feed his family, and, he lives in one of the poorest areas of the country. So much the same with Emmanuele, you could say. But in spite of this fate, he still loves what he does. It showed in his work.

Until one day.

He was watching t.v. It was the Oscar’s. His jaw dropped with what he saw. It was Angelina Jolie.

Two months later, he was a driver, driving legal and illegal stuffs for a certain business.

He never was the same after the Oscar’s.

Remember, this is a true story.

Emmanuele

I think writing about death is not a spoiler for this book. I read about death in almost every chapter. So, let me talk about Emanuele. He is 15 and his death touched me the most so far, in the story. He was shot by the police while doing what he does best, while doing the only thing he knew that would put food in his and his family's mouth.

My mind questions his death. As Saviano wrote:

The fact remains that he was fifteen years old. At that age, the sons of families born in other parts of Italy are going to the pool, taking dance lessons.

Emmanuele, however, waits for his time to rob someone for a living. He sits there until the right time comes. Until one day, what he thought was right was actually wrong. A wrong that caused him his life, his future.

But come to think of it, what would he be at 20? Would he be someone else other than a thief? Would his life change at 25? Would he be an entrepreneur at 30? I would like to think so.

I would want to believe so, because it could have been possible. But in a place like this, change is almost inevitable, especially if you are living within The System.

Emanuele's funeral was well-attended. The priest who did the service said:

The fact is that the only thing you learn here is how to die.

Mind you, this is a true story.

The Other Mafia

I bought this book I think while I was reading "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo. Or, maybe after reading it but was still intrigued by the story. At the same time, this book was posted on a blog that I follow which talk about books. I thought that those were signs that I should buy the book. Finding it wasn’t difficult although I had doubts that it might be banned in the country that I was in when I thought of it.

But the hardest part is yet to come. I think this is the first time that I have read a non-fiction book. Actually, I can't remember ever reading a true story. A movie based on a true story, I have read a lot. But not a book.

On my note pad, it said I started reading this book over a month ago. But I never posted anything about it. Well, one of the reasons is that I wasn't motivated for some reasons I couldn’t understand. I just stopped. The other is it was so hard to bring myself down to write about the book or something about the story, or something at least related to the story, which is primarily why I started this blog.

Now that I've had the winds back and brought myself to write, it was so hard recalling those instances and scenes that I want to write about. But I am now trying to. One of the things that hinders me is I might lose the chronology of the story and messed up the entries that's why I must do my assignments.

Anyway, this is Italy's other Mafia, as the subtitle goes. I am already half-way with the book, and it's a little hard for me to make myself to read it at times. It's hard to relate with all those names. And it's even harder to relate with all those bloodsheds.

But I'm keeping up. Because this is the underground where I never thought a lot of people were involved. With Mario's, I just thought it was the Corleone's and the underboss, the consiglierie, capo and their soldiers. I never thought a 15-year old would be involved.

Let the stories begin… on my next post.

Italian Mafia

According to investigations, it was Genard Marino McKay who made the place so profitable. He's the clan's point man in the area. And that's not all. Paolo DiLauro likes the way he runs things so he gave him franchising rights on the local market. McKay operates indepen-dently; all he has to do is pay a monthly fee to the clan.