The Namesake (51 page)
The lid came off and a bright light shone straight down into his face. He gazed up at it, too lazy to blink. If it was Curmaci, or some other demon, the odds were not good.
‘Alec? Alec!’
His throat and tongue were too swollen and dry for him to speak. There was the ladder, coming down from the sky. A second person was holding the light now. Ah, someone on the ladder now. He would have liked to stand up for the occasion, if only to check that it was real. The pain in his shoulder, the cramp in his legs were reassuring in this respect. Dreams tended to gloss over the body’s pains.
A woman in blue was descending towards him, and Blume stared up at her beautiful smiling face, illuminated from above.
‘Let’s go home, Alec,’ she said.
AISI
Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna
is the ‘Internal Intelligence and Security Agency’ of Italy. The British equivalent is MI5, but it is more difficult to draw a parallel with a US agency, the closest being the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. AISI is a relatively new name for what used to be known as SISDE, the covert role of which in modern Italian history is ambiguous, to say the least.
BKA
Das Bundeskriminalamt
, the Federal Criminal Police Department. The German FBI, effectively.
Camorra
The Mafia of Naples and Campania. Its reach extends to southern Latium (Lazio,
q.v.
) and Rome.
Camorrista
Either a member of the Camorra of Naples or, confusingly, a rank in the ’ndrangheta. There are several different levels of
camorrista
, much as a legitimate military might have several different levels and types of lieutenant.
Campania
The region south of Lazio, the beginning of the ‘Mezzogiorno’ (southern Italy), capital Naples.
Carabiniere
The Carabinieri Corps (
Arma dei Carabinieri
) is the national gendarmerie of Italy. Although the Carabinieri Corps carries out police and investigative work, it also operates in its military capacity in theatres of war and – an important distinction – reports to the Ministry of Defence rather than to the Ministry of the Interior. Most of the 112,000 members of the Corps operate as ‘policemen’ rather than soldiers. It also functions as the Military Police for the Army, Navy and Air Force. It specialises in investigations into terrorism, forgery, art theft, food adulteration and provides protection to Italian missions and embassies.
Commissario
Police Commissioner. Blume’s rank, translated literally. Its US equivalent, however, is not ‘Police Commissioner’, which is far too high and corresponds more closely to the
Questore
in the Italian system; rather, it is roughly equivalent to Captain or Major. The British and Canadian equivalent would be (Detective) Superintendent or Chief Superintendent. In Australia it would be the Commander.
Cosa Nostra
The Sicilian Mafia. It literally means ‘Our Thing’.
Crimine
The word means ‘crime’ or ‘felony’ in standard Italian. In the context of the ‘ndrangheta, the
crimine
is a person in charge of coordinating criminal actions and assassinations – the head of a death squad.
DCSA
Direzione Centrale per i Servizi Antidroga
– The Central Anti-Drug Directorate. The DCSA has a broader remit than its name implies, because drug running is a crime that covers so many other areas, from homicide to high finance. Like the DIA (
q.v.
), it is an elite inter-force organisation bringing together members of the
Polizia
(Police, Blume’s force), the
Carabinieri
(
q.v.
) and the
Guardia di Finanza
(the Finance Police).
DDA
The
Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia
is the judicial arm of the anti-Mafia apparatus of Italy. Its members are magistrates, often with a pronounced level of expertise and commitment. It imparts executive to an interforce agency called the DIA (
q.v.
). Strictly speaking, a DDA is a regional branch of a national body called the
Direzione Nazionale Antimafia
(DNA).
DIA
The
Direzione Investigativa Antimafia
was formed in 1991. It is an anti-Mafia force whose members are drawn from the three main police forces of the country (the
Carabinieri
, the Police and the Finance Police). Magistrate Giovanni Falcone, murdered by the Mafia in 1993, had long campaigned for the institution of the DIA, which he explicitly compared to the FBI.
Giovane d’onore
A young man of honour, a new adept in the ’ndrangheta. A private soldier, so to speak.
Giudice
Judge. The word may also used as an honorific when addressing a magistrate.
Lazio
Also known by its Latin name Latium, a central region of Italy whose capital is Rome.
Lira, lire
The old Italian currency was worth around 2,000 to the euro, so that a million lire was, very roughly speaking, 500 euros or 600 dollars.
Locale
In the parlance of the ’ndrangheta, a ‘locale’ (
locali
in the Calabrian dialect) is the collective name for a series smaller criminal units called
’ndrine
(
q.v.
) operating in cooperation with each other in a given (local) area. The most important of these, is the Locale of San Luca, next to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Polsi. Each district, in Italy and abroad, will have its own locale.
Mafia
Italian uses the word Mafia in much the same way as English. It may refer to any organised group of criminals, and can even be used in a loose and facetious sense. Thus the ‘ndrangheta can be called the Calabrian Mafia. In the absence of any qualifying adjectives or gloss, Mafia will refer to the Sicilian criminal organisation, which is also known as
Cosa Nostra
. The main Mafia groups in Italy are:
Cosa Nostra/La Mafia
(Sicily); the
Stidda
(Sicily); the
Camorra
(Naples); the
’ndrangheta
(Calabria) and the
Sacra Corona Unita
(Apulia).
Mastro di
In Calabrian dialect, this would be
mastru i jurnata
.
Giornata
Effectively the person in charge of the internal communications of the ’ndrangheta. He keeps members up to date and keeps tabs on where any member is at a given time.
Ndrangheta
The proper orthography is ’ndrangheta, with an apostrophe and lower-case ‘n’, but an editorial decision was made to spell it as Ndrangheta to make it clear that it is a proper name. It is pronounced with the stress on the first ‘a’ and with a hard ‘g’ (
en-DRAN-gehta
) It refers to the Mafia of the Region of Calabria (the ‘toe’ on the boot of Italy). The source of the name is uncertain, but it seems to come from the Greek
andragathía
meaning ‘Valour, gallantry, courage’. The
andr-
stem of the word means ‘manly’, or characteristic of a man. Other names for the ’ndrangheta are: The Montalbano Family, the Honoured Society (
Società Onorata
), the
Santa
, and la
Picciotteria
. In the past it has also been called the
Maffia
and the
Camorra
, the latter of which is now used exclusively for the criminal gangs of Naples.
Ndrina (properly ’ndrina, pl.’ndrine)
Etymology uncertain, but possibly from
malandrino
, which means ‘ruffian’, ‘bandit’ or ‘scoundrel’. It is the smallest collective unit in the ’ndrangheta and consists of criminal members of blood-related family with a smaller number of external associates. An
’ndrina
controls a small district, and several
’ndrine
together form a
locale
(
q.v.
). Sometimes, however, an
’ndrina
, especially if it has sent members abroad, can become more powerful than the entire locale. The
’ndrina
will be known by the surname of the controlling family.
Picciotto
A rank in the ’ndrangheta, below that of
camorrista
. If we use the analogy of the army, we might compare a
picciotto
to a corporal.
Puglia
Also known by its Latin name Apulia, a southern region corresponding to the ‘heel’ of Italy.
Sgarrista
A rank in the ’ndrangheta, above that of
camorrista
(
q.v.
). If we consider a
camorrista
as analogous to an army lieutenant, then a
sgarrista
is a captain.
SISDE
Now called AISI (
q.v.
).
Sorella d’omertà
A ‘sister sworn to the code of silence’. A female member of the ’ndrangheta. It is the highest rank a woman can have in the organisation, and seems to fall somewhere between
sgarrista
and
santista
.
Squadra mobile
‘Flying squad’. The term, referring to a group of police officers who investigate serious crimes, comes from the idea that they are mobile so that they can get quickly to the scene of a crime. Blume is part of Section III (Crimes against the Person) of the
Squadra Mobile
of Rome.
Conor Fitzgerald has lived in Ireland, the UK, the United States, and Italy. He has worked as an arts editor, produced a current affairs journal for foreign embassies and founded a successful translation company. He is married with two children and lives in Rome. He is the author of
The Dogs of Rome
and
The Fatal Touch
.
The Namesake
is his third book.
Also available by Conor Fitzgerald
The Dogs of Rome
On a hot summer morning, Arturo Clemente is brutally murdered in his Roman apartment. Clemente is no ordinary victim. His widow is an elected member of the Senate, and Chief Inspector Alec Blume arrives at the scene to find enquiries well underway. The murder case seems clear-cut and a prime suspect is quickly identified, but Blume must fight to regain control of the investigation, aware from bitter experience that in Rome even a murder enquiry must bow to the rules of politics. The complex and uncomfortable truth he will unravel will shock even him, and his struggle for justice may yet cost more innocent lives...
‘A powerful and hugely compelling thriller. Dark, worldly and written with tremendous style and assurance … Conor Fitzgerald is a class act’
William Boyd
‘Blume is an engaging hero who might just have to potential to fill the gap left when Michael Dibdin’s death ended his Italian detective Aurelio Zen’s investigations’
