Italian crooks can at times be devilishly inventive - there are dozens of Italian films that chronicle the stunts and schemes mischievous Italians can come up with in their effort to swindle and steal. In the news over the last week we had two amazing examples of just this kind of negative creativity.
Firstly, in Florence two women in their 40s stole over 20000 Euros from their 94-year old victim by presenting themselves as good catholics and convincing her to kiss a devotional card laced with a powerful sleeping card. The victim protested that it smelled odd but the two women insisted and convinced her. They made off with jewelry.
From Naples, instead, we have the news that a Naples crime boss used a crocodile to frighten extortion victims. Antonio Cristofaro, an emerging boss in a Camorra clan, took reluctant businessmen onto his terrace and threatened them with the animal if they tried to stop paying him for 'protection', they said.
Cristofaro, a member of two feuding clans, will be charged with illegal possession of animals. The police visited his house after being tipped-off that he had guns stashed away but instead found the poor crocodile that was made the unwilling participant in the rather Bondesque scare tactic.
We hope that all this creative thinking could in the future be used for more positive actions...
