They are used by
experience or tradition to arbitrary police methods and
prosecutions unhampered by Anglo-Saxon rules of evidence.
When the Italian crook is actually brought to the bar of
justice at home, that he will "go" is generally a foregone
conclusion. There need be no complainant in Italy. The
government is the whole thing there. But, in America, if the
criminal can "reach" the complaining witness or "call him off"
he has nothing to worry about. This he knows he can easily do
through the terror of the Camorra. And thus he knows that the
chances he takes are compartively small, including that of
conviction if he is ever tried by a jury of his American
peers, who are loath to find a man guilty whose language and
motives they are unable to understand. All this the young
Camorrist is perfectly aware of and gambles on.
One of the unique phenomena of the Mala Vita in America is the
class of Italians who are known as "men of honor." These are
native Italians who have been convicted of crime in their own
country and have either made their escape or served their
terms.
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