Friday, November 03, 2006

What is going on in Napoli?

Supposedly Mafia gangs in Naples are out of control.
There have been several news reports on recent murders and crime in Naples this past week citing that the city has become a virtual battleground. Rival Mafia gangs are being blamed as the main culprit for the precarious state of the streets. There have been seven deaths in five days and the escalation of violence has provoked calls for the national guard to be deployed on the streets of the city. Not all the crimes are Mafia related but there is enough blood being shed to make me want to stay planted right here in Rome. And Rome has it's fair share of theft and crime. I mean seven deaths in five days? That's crazy. There have been 130,000 crimes in the last year in Naples which is five times the national average.
See here and here for more.
But what I really wanted to talk about is Sopranos season 6. We have diligently been watching the series and I can't get enough. Toni, Paulie, Camilla, Chris...they are so American Mafia. Well, I've never actually met anyone from the Mafia in the U.S. (or Italy for that matter) but they are the epitomy of what I would imagine it to be like. And Meadow has grown into such a beautiful young woman. Toni gets fatter and fatter with each episode. And it's just so ridiculous as to what lengths these guys will go to. They do however try to avoid an all out mafia war between the two sides. Retribution is a necessity so if they can avoid it all the better. But the ironic thing is they hire two guys from Napoli to fly over to nj for the night to "clip" a captain of the rival gang (as retribution for that gang "clipping" one of their captains). These guys spoke Naples slang and Toni and I had to rewind it 4 times to understand what they were saying. It was so hard to understand the dialect. But the show is so hilarious.
Don't get me wrong. I am not in any way trying to trivialize the violence happening in Naples right now. It just reminds me a little of nyc and the insane violence that became a kind of everyday normalcy. I was mugged only once and most of my friends were too, but one girl I knew was even mugged three times! It just seemed like everyday the newspaper was reporting a new murder on the LES or Harlem or Queens. I was really surprised when I moved here that I felt pretty safe at any hour of the day /night. I don't know if the military is the answer for the situation in Naples but obviously something must be done to stop the violence.

4 Comments:

Blogger Shelley - At Home in Rome said...

I was waiting for someone to post on this. I kept reading it in the headlines of everyone's papers on the bus yesterday. The situation is getting completely out of hand and this has been building for a while now. I don't know anyone in Naples and I am glad otherwise I would be very worried.

You have the Sopranos on DVD? When you're finished, wanna trade? Ale and I just finished HBO's season 1 of "Rome" and it is super addictive. We can't wait for Season 2.

Friday, November 03, 2006 5:27:00 PM  
Blogger avery said...

We are big "Rome" fans too! In fact I recently met the camera man (they are currently filming the 2nd part, here, in Rome) and I kept gushing to him how cool the series is and my husband and I are huge fans etc. etc. Unfortunately I don't have the dvd for sopranos...purtroppo....let's just say I use limewire a lot.

Friday, November 03, 2006 6:16:00 PM  
Blogger nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

I want to go to Naples next year. Should I re-think those plans?

I love the Sorpranos. The house tony lives in is a mile up the road (in Caldwell) from where I went to junior high and high school.

I had to watch a director's reel for work and he had a couple episodes of season one and four on it. Oh my god, Tony was so much thinner back then. I have no idea how they will end the show next year.

ROME is great. I think Season two will be the last one. When I was in Rome a friend at HBO arranged a set visit. It was unreal. The amount of detail and the scale of the sets blew me away. I wonder what they are going to do with them.

Monday, November 06, 2006 6:33:00 PM  
Blogger Gia-Gina said...

Avery, just wanted to drop you a line and say hi. My email is giaparsons@hotmail.com

I will be in Rome for 2 weeks or so for Xmas, maybe we can meet.

Monday, November 06, 2006 6:45:00 PM  

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