  Most blazars are known to be hosted in giant elliptic galaxies, but their
cluster environments have not been thoroughly investigated. Cluster
environments may contain radiation fields of low-energy photons created by
nearby galaxies and/or stars in the intracluster medium that produce diffuse
intracluster light. These radiation fields may absorb very high energy gamma
rays ($E\gtrsim100$ GeV; VHE) and trigger pair cascades with further production
of subsequent generations of gamma rays with lower energies via inverse Compton
scattering on surrounding radiation fields leaving a characteristic imprint in
the observed spectral shape. The change of the spectral shape of the blazar
reflects the properties of its ambient medium. We show, however, that neither
intracluster light nor the radiation field of an individual nearby galaxy can
cause substantial gamma-gamma absorption. Substantial gamma-gamma absorption is
possible only in the case of multiple, $\gtrsim5$, luminous nearby galaxies.
This situation is not found in the local Universe, but may be possible at
larger redshifts ($z\gtrsim2$). Since VHE gamma rays from such distances are
expected to be strongly absorbed by the extragalactic background light, we
consider possible signatures of gamma-ray induced pair cascades by calculating
the expected GeV flux which appears to be below the Fermi sensitivity even for
$\sim10$ nearby galaxies.
