One of the problems preventing full appreciation of Romanzo Criminale or the books and TV series about Montalbano is my lack of knowledge about the Italian police and criminal justice system and after reading up on Wikipedia I am only a little wiser. I was prompted to begin the study because mention was made that when Salvo runs out of petrol, in the Snack Thief, the third book in series by Andrea Camillieri, and the first to be shown as a 90 min TV film here in the UK, he has to be rescued by the Carabinieri, the Arma dei Carabinieri, to give their correct title and he pretends differently rather than admit he needed them. Why was this? I was also concerned by the different levels of superiors to which he was answerable, including any political involvement although I have decided to leave this aspect. The information is set out below*
It will be remembered that I ended part two of my writing about The Snack Thief as Montalbano was about to talk to a Secret Service officer an elf like Colonel with a video camera hidden and on. Salvo apart from the mobile phone admits ignorance of all things digital especially the computer, although at a time historically when the use as a communication and information tool by the majority of citizens was still to occur and to think that when I commenced as a salesman of office machines they were manual and one office in the still used the manual calculus. The book is written for a time before the use of phones as cameras, for Internet communication and the development of digital film and photography in general
Salvo does not reveal what his intentions are beforehand. I had thought when having returned to the restaurant where he had enjoyed a full lunch he had stayed to eat the red mullet that he had questioned the cook. What in fact he did was to purchase a couple of the fish and then prepare them as the Chef had instructed, eating in silence as is his standard and drinking wine without offering any to his visitor.
It was only when the Inspector was enjoying a coffee did the man from Rome speak and Salvo delayed him further by taking the empty cup to the sink. The Colonel said he wanted to be above board but before the man’s mission is disclosed Salvo goes back into the kitchen and brings back a large slice of Cassata but asked his visitor to continue as he wanted the ice cream to thaw before eating.
The first point the Colonel made is that they had nothing to do with the death of Aisha which he said was an accident and if they had wanted to eliminate her it would have been done straight away. The man then enquired if Salvo knew the writings of Mussolini particularly in his last writings where he said that one had to treat people as donkeys with sticks and carrots. Salvo commented that his grand father, a peasant, had said the same thing. The Secret Service man said he understood that the faxes, the interrogation with the Captain and the Prefect’s Cabinet chief had been Montalbano’s sticks while the decision not to involve the authorities in the death of Lapécora by placing all blame on the man‘s wife was the carrot. They were not unappreciative about this decision but assumed he had some purpose, a price.
While he appeared calm Montalbano guessed his guest was worked up inside about what had happened and when asking for water, Salvo made the man go into the kitchen and get what he wanted himself. Returning the Colonel explained that two years before the opposite numbers in Tunisia had asked for cooperation in neutralizing Moussa. Salvo made the officer say out loud the name of the man for the camera and now he ensured that the man also said on the record that neutralizing meant killing. After consulting the government they told the Tunisians no, but there was a development (unstated) which led them to approach the Tunisian for help and as a consequence they had become morally indebted. Montalbano intervened that whatever it was it was not moral.
The Tunisian authorities had discovered that the Terrorists favourite sister, Karima lived in Sicily and had a large circle of acquaintances. Salvo again intervened to replace ‘large circle’ with ‘select.’ Ahmed’s right hand man Fahrid, unknown to his boss was being used by the Tunisian secret service, and suggested they should use Karima and her boss Lapécora. They communicated using the imaginary business company based in Tunis. It had been news to the service that Lapécora had written letters to his wife informing on himself as mentioned by Salvo at the press conference. Salvo explained that the man had become suspicious about what the shell company was about.
Salvo asked about the blond man who had showed up from time to time to visit Fahrid and Karima and this was admitted to be the link with the Italian Secret Service. The bait was a major supply of weapons and a meeting which had to take place just offshore. Moussa had not only accepted the bait but lit the cigarette at the meeting place which identified him so they were able to kill him and no one else. It was at this point that the Captain panicked because he had not been told his passenger was to be killed; Instead of returning to his home port he had made his way into Vigáta, having thrown the man’s papers overboard and divided the 70 million in his possession among the crew.
Salvo asked if the Captain had been right to fear that they would also be neutralised. The secret service man protests that such as massacre would have been without purpose. The man said this was all he had come to say.
Montalbano decided to finish the story for him saying that Fahrid had then gone to finish off Lapécora using Karima as Montalbano had worked out earlier but he arrived to find the man already dead and thought perhaps the Italian service had acted and uncertain what was happening he panicked. He had met up with Karima and told her the brother was killed and he murders her to ensure no one remained who could reveal the true story. The Colonel congratulated Salvo on the way he worked out things and commented that it was 2 am as if seeking closure. Montalbano made a move in telephoning Fazio pretending they had a prearranged visit in such a way that his assistant knew it was urgent that he came quickly using an official squad card. He would arrive in twenty minutes.
Salvo had set the limit of their talk and the Colonel came straight to the point wanting to know what Salvo wanted. His price which Montalbano said was cheap. First the body of Karima had to be identified. He did not to disclose that the body was needed so a trust could be formed for the money she had saved to go to the boy when he became a young man. Secondly he wanted a block on the promotion which his boss had said he had to accept and that he would be moved anyway if he did not accept. The Colonel was adamant they could not help would not help with the production of the body. It is then Salvo played his card about recording their conversation on camera tape. The man told Salvo he was making a mistake and went for his phone to ring for help. Salvo smashes the man, his glasses and his phone. Fazio arrives and is told to wait in his car and to be careful. Before he left, although a teetotaller Salvo made the man drink whisky.
He called Fazio back in later to find the visitor drunk and singing having vomited over himself. Fazio was told that on arriving home his boss had found this man drunk in his car and without papers and had brought him in to sober him up. Fazio would drive the man in his car to the station and put him a cell for the rest of the night. Salvo would follow in squad car. When Fazio brought Salvo back to his home they burnt the man’s documents and placed them in a hole made in the garden and in a separate hole the smashed spectacles and mobile phone. After this he attempted to play the Cassette tape of the admission made by the colonel. It was blank. He had pressed the wrong button.
Salvos response was to get undressed and go for a cold water middle of night swim, returning to bed tired and wet. His next reported action the following day was not to visit his dying father but to go away, staying at a Trattoria to eat well, relax and think on his own. He is pleased when asked to share a table with someone of my age the man makes the point that he too likes to savour the food without conversation.
He describes the pasta with crab graceful as a ballerina and the stuffed bass with saffron leaving them breathless. I enjoyed some porridge this morning and for lunch two scrambled eggs with a little pepper and shrimps on one thick slice off white toasted bread. And this evening a chicken breast from the roasted whole chicken, bland as was the already prepared mashed potato covered with beans and tomato sauce from yesterday’s lunch with a battered white fish.
The two men agree that their cook is a genius and not surprised that the owner of a famous Parisian restaurant had tried to prize him away. His companion came for two weeks at a time to enjoy the food and was doubly delighted not just to find someone with a similar appreciation but who also played the game of Chess. I stuffed up again on reach 41 games then with my run of over 200 games of Free Cell. The man was a Professor of Philosophy who as with everyone else knew who Montalbano was from his TV appearances but pretended they did not know as he must have some reason for being there privately.
It was the following day that he was contacted by Valente his friend from Mazára who had been trying to contact him to express delight at getting his long sought transfer, another part of his deal with the Colonel. He was moving to the area of his wife’s family. Salvo reminded him that he had said something good would come from the affair.
His boss also contact to say he was upset, felt offended, because his request that Salvo should be promoted had been blocked for no reason which meant Salvo would be staying in his present position. Salvo confessed he was not just happy but doubly happy, He did not explain that this was because he felt the authorities were moving in the direction he had requested as the price for his silence about what had gone on.
The following morning he went fishing at the invitation of the Professor and found himself talking about his father and his imminent death. He admitted he could face going to hospital to see him. The Professor mentioned that he had followed Salvo‘s involvement in the case of the Terracotta Dog, an earlier book although I have seen the TV show and therefore appreciated the context in which the Professor now argued that he had noted that Salvo had abandoned his involvement in an important current case to solve one fifty years old. He suggested that this was Salvo’s way of coping with a challenging and stressful job. He cannot cope with every day reality at times hence the decision to escape to this retreat with good food and as it transpired good company. The Professor then looks the Inspector straight in the eye and asks “When will you decide to grow up” To which I would have quoted back T S Elliot, human being cannot cope with too much reality, and this is not to a sign of immaturity, the opposite is to recognise human limitation.
For lunch the Professor expressed his horror and amazement at what appeared to be meatballs. Salvo reacted differently making sure he savoured the mixture of fish, onion, hot pepper, whisked egg, salt, pepper breadcrumbs cumin and coriander. And so this bliss continued for a total of five days.
When he got back home he found that there was no meal prepared for as the note from the housekeeper explained he had not said when he was coming back so she had prepared meals each of which had been eaten so she was not prepared to do anymore until he returned. He therefore had to make do with a few olives, wine from his father’s vineyard and bread. This bring back the memory of one of the great days when I was alone at a hired villa in the South of France with its own private pool which was not overlooked. I had swam naked at regular intervals throughout the day, enjoying freshly baked crusty bread, olive, salami, pate and wine when ever I fancied throughout the day until required to go to the local railway station in late afternoon. I had taken decisions which were to affect the rest of my life in several profound ways and apart from my body in the water and the sounds of the insects there was silence occasionally broken by distant noises from the valley below. I would be back there writing this if circumstances had been different.
After finishing what was available to eat he switched on the local news for the announcement that the body of Karima Moussa had been found in a decomposed condition. She had been strangled and thrown into a deep well with her belongings. The investigating Inspector suggested she could have been killed by her pimp although here were many questions still to be answered. Salvo could not contain his excitement but soon fell into the sleep of the just, long and deep, in the chair where he was sitting.
The following day he had dinner with his boss and told him the full story. The man was disappointed to have been left out so close to his retirement.
Salvo then wrote a very letter to Livia in which he asks her marry and for them to bring up the child Françoise.
He then receives the news he had been dreading that his father’s life was coming to an end and that he should visit without delay. When he arrives at the clinic a doctor explains that his father had died two hours before. Salvo said ‘Thank you.’ The doctor did not understand this was meant for his father.
* The Italian Police
There are five national police forces and two local
The Carabinieri have two functions in that they serve as police to military, that is the separate army, navy and Air forces whereas here in the UK and the USA, the services have their own police divisions. In Italy the military police are independent of the armed forced which I regard as a very good thing. The other role is described as military units akin to the Gendarmerie which begs the question of what is a Gendarmerie.
Over thirty countries have this armed military controlled force and in France, the gendarmerie has crowd and riot control units (the
Gendarmerie Mobile, along with some corresponding units in the civilian police), counter-terrorism and hostage rescue (GIGN, again along with some corresponding units in the civilian police), maritime surveillance, police at sea and coast guard (Gendarmerie maritime), control and security at airports and air traffic police (Gendarmerie des transports aériens), official buildings guard, honorary services and protection of the President (Garde Républicaine), mountain rescue (Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne) and security of nuclear weapons sites. This still begs the question about their role in Italy. Wikipedia states
“Special Tasks Departments are outside the ordinary organisational framework and are used for special missions:
Corazzieri (Cuirassiers) are an elite corps and honour guard of the President of the Italian Republic, located in the Quirinal Palace. They are distinguished by their uniforms and height (the minimum height for admission is 190 cm, or 6 feet 3 inches). They have almost no other everyday duties, although they may be seen patrolling occasionally. Other departments are in service to constitutional bodies such as the Presidency of the Republic, the Senate, Parliament, the Judiciary, the Prime Minister and the National Council of Economy and Labour. Carabinieri also perform military police and security duties for the Ministry of Defence, military high commands, the offices of the military judiciary and allied military organisations in Italy and abroad. They also have personnel attached to the Department of Public Security in various departments, as well as anti-Mafia and anti-drug investigative task forces. Carabinieri officers are charged with surveillance and security at Italian embassies and consulates abroad, performing the same services entrusted to the United States Marine Corps in US diplomatic and consular offices. Together with the Polizia di Stato and the Guardia di Finanza, the Carabinieri is also responsible for border control.”Because they are military trained and employed they have been used in Italian Peace and other International Missions including in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The second National Force is the Guardia di Finanza which Wikipedia states
is a corps of the
Italian Army under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance, with a role as police force. The Corps is in charge of financial, economic, judiciary and public safety: tax evasion, financial crimes, smuggling, money laundering, international illegal drug trafficking, illegal immigration, customs and borders checks, copyright violations, anti-Mafia operations, credit card fraud, cybercrime, counterfeiting, terrorist financing, maintaining public order, and safety, political and military defence of the Italian borders
The
Guardia di Finanza has around 68,000 militaries among agents, NCOs and officers. Its agents are in service in the Europol and the European Anti-Fraud Office. Its Latin motto since 1933 is Nec recisa recedit (English: Not Even Broken Retreats). The Guardia di Finanza also maintains over 600 boats and ships and more than 100 aircraft to fulfil its mission of patrolling Italy's territorial waters.”
“The Polizia di Stato (State Police) is the civil national
police of Italy. Along with patrolling, investigative and law enforcement duties, it patrols the Autostrada (Italy's Express Highway network), and oversees the security of railways, bridges and waterways. It is a civilian police force, while the Carabinieri are military. While its internal organization and mindset is somewhat military, its personnel is composed of civilians. Its headquarters are in Rome, and there are Regional and Provincial divisions throughout Italian territory. A program Polizia di Quartiere has been implemented which increases police presence and deter crime. Pairs of poliziotti (policemen) or carabinieri patrol areas of major cities on foot. Its critics contend that these efforts are ineffective, as the areas with the greatest concentration of crime are being neglected.”
“The Polizia Penitenziaria (Prison Guards, literally Penitentiary Police) operate the Italian prison system and handle the transportation of inmates. The training academy for the Polizia Penitenziaria is located in
Aversa.”
“The Corpo Forestale dello Stato (National Forestry Department) is responsible for law enforcement in Italian national parks and forests. Their duties include enforcing poaching laws, safeguarding protected animal species and preventing forest fires. Founded in 1822, the Corpo Forestale dello Stato is a civilian police force specialised on the environmental protection. A recent law reform expanded its duties to food controls. In Italy it has the responsibility to manage the activities related to the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)”
If you understand the above and are convinced that everyone works together and there is no duplication, then you will be confident about the two other forces which are controlled at local level.
The “Polizia provinciale
are small police organisations and their main duties are to enforce regional and national hunting and fishing laws but have also expanded into environmental protection. The forces' vehicles are usually white with a green or blue stripe along the side. As they are not considered national Police organizations, armaments (when allowed) is left to the initiative of the individual officers, and as such most of polizia provinciale members have to rely on firearms normally sold on the civilian market; seen the normal duties of such organizations, most of the firearms used by their members are hunting rifles or shotguns. However, when on-duty, the provincial police officers can be issued with some kind of equipment normally not available to civilians, such as
generation-3 and above night-vision devices, used especially in anti-poaching operations.
The polizia municipale are the
municipal police of Italy responsible to the mayors of the various municipalities of Italy. Traffic control is their main function in addition to enforcing statal, regional and local laws regarding commerce, legal residence, pets and other administrative duties. They also have all other police duties, with the exception of public safety, because this is an exclusive duty of the Polizia di Stato and Polizia Municipale has just an auxiliary function.
The Italian polizia municipale (PM) forces have 60,000 employees, Rome having the largest at several thousand. PM uniforms and vehicles have many different liveries depending on regional laws and local tastes and traditions.
Some municipal police, including those of Rome, are known as the vigili urbani (urban watch), and thus derive their name from the
vigiles of ancient Rome. In other regions of Italy, these forces are also called polizia comunale, polizia urbana, and polizia locale. In the autonomous province of Bolzano/Bozen, where German is an official language, the municipal police is also called Stadtpolizei or Gemeindepolizei. Municipal police vehicles in this region have both Italian and German names on them.
In the autonomous region of
Aosta Valley, where French is an official language, the municipal police is also called police municipale. Municipal police vehicles in this region have both Italian and French names on them.
Municipal police officers are still referred to as vigili (singular: vigile, meaning watchful, alert) but the official name is agente di polizia locale (APL), meaning 'local police officer'. In some regions, especially while regulating traffic, they wear white
custodian helmets similar to the black helmets worn by British police officers”
I will try and find out about the Italian Secret Service and the political system at local level in relation to other Montalbano Books as well as writing about Sicily.
No comments:
Post a Comment