An Italian police officer signals for a vehicle to pull off the road to be searched and have identity checks done on driver and any occupants. Italy’s government has deployed more than 500 Italian soldiers to the Naples area to help police combat mafia-related crimes. (Sandra Jontz / Stars and Stripes)
CASAL DI PRINICIPE, Italy — With the flick of the lollipop stick, the car slowed and pulled into the parking lot of the stadium in the Neapolitan suburb of Casal di Principe — a mob stronghold.
"License and documents," an Italian police officer told the driver, who quickly furnished the requested material.
At many street corners throughout suburbs of Naples and Caserta, police and military personnel have set up checkpoints as part of a controversial plan by the Italian government to combat mafia-related crimes and killings in the Naples area.
The government sent 500 soldiers to augment police forces and provide security while police stop, check and search suspicious cars that might be trafficking wanted personnel, weapons or drugs, officials said.
Italian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to make public comment.
"We’re out on the streets, on many corners, waging civil war against organized crime," said one police officer.
The use of military personnel to patrol the streets, particularly in areas such as Caserta, Casal, and Castelvolturno, was the result of the Sept. 18 killings by suspected mafia hit men, who shot six Africans in a suspected drug turf war.
Americans rent homes right in the middle of these targeted hot spots. As of Sept. 30, the housing office of Naval Support Activity Naples managed 248 leases in Casal for U.S. military and civilian personnel and their families, and another 25 leases in Castelvolturno, said Sandy Randolph, housing director.
In spite of the recent uptick of violence and killings in the area — and the surge of Italian paramilitary, police and soldiers — base officials have not placed the area on a "do not show list" for new leases. U.S. officials took that measure in May in neighboring Lago Patria following a spike in the reported number of home burglaries and car break-ins.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said this week that the troops would do anything "necessary to make the voice of the state heard," according to The Associated Press. He has called the fight between the Neapolitan mafia (the Camorra) and the state a "civil war" — an expression repeated by patrolling police and soldiers.
Tuesday, law enforcement carried out raids against the Casalesi, one of the main Camorra clans, making 30 arrests and seizing 100 million euros in assets, according to Italian news reports.
An Italian police officer signals for a vehicle to pull off the road to be searched and have identity checks done on driver and any occupants. Italy’s government has deployed more than 500 Italian soldiers to the Naples area to help police combat mafia-related crimes. (Sandra Jontz / Stars and Stripes)
An Italian police officer logs the name of a driver after running a background check at a checkpoint set up Wednesday in Casal di Principe, a suburb of Caserta and Naples. (Sandra Jontz / Stars and Stripes)
A member of Italy’s army stands guard while Italian police officers stop and search a vehicle in Casal di Principe. (Sandra Jontz / Stars and Stripes)
