The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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Oct 2015 back issue
by Salvatore Esposito
Scampia is a modern suburb of huge high-rise flats, north of Naples with about 80,000 inhabitants. It was developed
throughout the 70s and 80s as housing for displaced Neapolitans, particularly after the Irpinia earthquake in 1980.
Unemployment is high (at around 50%) and crime is rife. The area is known for drugs. Camorra clans operate in
this district. They are dedicated mainly to drug trafficking on which they base their whole economy.
The clans are increasingly relying on children to drive their drug empires. It is easier for boys as young as 10 to
commit crimes than it is for adults. The social degradation and crime means than male children are needed to provide
for their families at ever younger ages. They may be called upon to be the main providers for younger siblings,
relatives in prison or their entire families. This creates the "Men Children” who lose their sense of their own age. They
begin to take risks. Their responsibilities and fears are beyond those that are normal for children their age. By 14,
they may begin to tinker with guns, deal drugs and work alongside the traffickers. They may start to earn up to 20,000
euros a month, but at the same time, learn how to spend it just as quickly.
The oppression of others and self-defense are the rules that these children live by from an early age, in an
environment where they can trust no-one, not even their own parents. In this neighborhood, the only thing that
matters is to survive at all costs, whilst dressing in Hoogan and Dolce and Gabbana. Selling drugs becomes easier
and simpler and eventually spreads to become the economic engine for an entire area.
Naples, Scampia neighborhood: the biggest drug market in Europe. Camorra clans earn millions of euros from drug
trafficking.
A guy with his gun on top of "The Sails" a particular building so called for its shape. Scampia district.
An HIV positive drug addict injecting "speedball" into another addict in the abandoned aparetments in "The Sails" that
the Camorra provide in order to keep addicts off the street so that they cannot alert the police to their crimes.
A drug dealer smoking in his room.
A drug dealer selling drugs to junkies on the stairs of "The Sails".
Under "The Sails" a particular building so called for its shape.
A close circuit camera in a dealer’s home to keep watch for the arrival of the police.
Two pushers smoking a joint in "The Sails".
A drug dealer with a gun in his bedroom.
A child jumping in a swimming pool on the top of "The Sails".
A drug dealer.
Drug addict shows his hands, wounded by cocaine injections which tear the skin to shreads.
A pusher in his home.
A look-out to watch for police.
A drug addict injecting cocaine.
