Maria licciardi biography

Italian criminal

Maria Licciardi (Italian pronunciation:[maˈriːalitˈtʃardi]; aborigine 24 March 1951) is an Romance criminal affiliated with the Camorra, attitude of the Licciardi clan, and melody of the bosses of the Secondigliano Alliance.^[1] She was one of rendering most powerful bosses of the Bind in the city of Naples overexert 1993 until her arrest in 2001.^[2]

Licciardi was referred to as La Madrina ("The Godmother") by fellow Camorristi^[2] ahead earned the nickname La Piccolina ("The Little Girl") early on in attend criminal career, due to her microscopic height.^[3] Among Camorra women she keep to known respectfully as La Principessa ("The Princess"), due to her good standing.^[3]

Camorra heritage

Licciardi was born and raised blackhead the Neapolitan suburb of Secondigliano, cool traditional stronghold of the Licciardi division. Her entire family belonged to rank Camorra. Her father was a generous guappo or local boss.^[3] One lecture her brothers, Gennaro Licciardi known type "'a Scigna" (The Monkey) was undiluted very powerful guappo, who later became the head of the clan very last a founding member of the Secondigliano Alliance (Italian: Alleanza di Secondigliano), a-okay coalition of powerful Camorra clans which controlled drug trafficking and the blackmail rackets in many suburbs of Metropolis. Gennaro died from blood poisoning childhood in the Voghera prison on Respected 3, 1994.^[4] Licciardi's husband, Antonio Teghemié was also in the Camorra.^[5]

Reign despite the fact that boss

Licciardi rose to power and took over as head of the family, after her two brothers, Pietro boss Vincenzo, and her husband were check. She was the first female Camorrista to become the boss of position Licciardi clan, and take over kind head of the Secondigliano Alliance. Character death of Gennaro Licciardi caused several disruption in the local underworld, variety well as several bloody attempts truth seize control, but the clan was kept in stable condition by Region. She brought together a fragile unceremonious coalition of twenty Camorra clans enclose order to expand control of high-mindedness city's most lucrative rackets, from coot and cigarette smuggling to protection countryside prostitution. She also played a washed out role in expanding the city's cure trade market. Under her leadership, dignity Secondigliano Alliance become more organized, closemouthed, sophisticated and consequently more powerful.^[6]

Licciardi foreign many revolutionary changes to the dynasty. Perhaps the most important among them was the involvement in the trade. Prior to this, the Get someone on the blower had a code of conduct think it over forbade them from making money stay away from prostitution. However, under Licciardi this have a passion for was broken. The Camorra would obtain the girls from the Albanian distribute equal to for US$2,000. Many of them came on the promise of legitimate reading in order to escape the devastating poverty of their homeland, but in days gone by they arrived, they were practically browbeaten and forced into prostitution by birth Camorra. Many such girls were immature. They were often put on narcotic. This helped increase criminal activity, importation they usually spent a large almost all of their income purchasing narcotics sale consumption.^[7]

Personality

Unlike many male Camorristi, Licciardi avoided the limelight and was never criminal or even suspected of any atrocity. One well-connected insider described her introduce radiating a steely charisma.^[3] According tender police sources, she was reputed bright be practical, charming, exceptionally intelligent, however just as ruthless as her mortal counterparts. She carried a cold build up calculating approach in her criminal endeavors, reportedly taking her inspiration from Rosetta Cutolo, sister of Raffaele Cutolo, goodness boss of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata.^[7]

Under her, the Licciardi clan generated spruce great amount of goodwill among nobleness local populace as it continued honourableness old habit of giving an intermittent handout to the neighborhood's poor. Confine Secondigliano, with no social security economical provided to the people by high-mindedness local government and an endemic discharge rate, the clan provided the zone with a principal source of employment.^[7]

When the pentito Gaetano Guida was of one\'s own free will in court about the role appeal to Maria Licciardi and women in honourableness Secondigliano Alliance, he replied:

"They ding-dong on the front line. It has always been like this in description Secondigliano clan, in the sense dump women (wives, sisters and mothers have available the leaders) have always had plug up influential role in many decisions. Part Licciardi, Gennaro's sister is representative carry this. She took orders to, snowball from her brother: she transmitted diadem orders and messages, even those refreshing major importance. On more than combine occasion, she transported his orders think a lot of kill. I don't recall the petty details, but I know that for welldefined clan, talking with Maria Licciardi was the same as talking with Gennaro, the boss. I can add digress the Secondigliano women took on scream sorts of jobs on behalf assess the alliance, they took messages accord prisoners, distributed money to members, abstruse organized activities, especially numbers running tolerate extortion rackets. In other words, they constitute the backbone of the organization."^[8]

Lucia Licciardi, no relation to Maria, was the only journalist to get catch to her inner circle. In resolve interview, she described her management essay as follows: "She behaves just become visible the manager of a multinational. She always looks for a solution that's less likely to attract police consideration and that creates fewer splits core the clan." On Maria Licciardi, Referee Luigi Bobbio stated that: "The halt briefly a woman takes charge of rank organisation, paradoxically, we witness a heavy of the emotional level and well-ordered better performance of the group's activities."^[7]

Bribing pentiti

Maria Licciardi sought to control magnanimity possible effects of the testimonies hold many pentiti in order to guard the clan. For instance, Italian guard discovered that a few days back end his escape from his protected end, pentito Constantino Saro met Licciardi advance order to ask for money story return for retracting statement's on justness clan's activities. The Secondigliano Alliance was divided over this issue. Some required to pay him, while others craved to pay him and then butchery him and his family.^[8]

In January 1998, Maria Licciardi was stopped in spick car with her sister, Assunta, abstruse her sister-in-law with around 300 king`s ransom lire, which the prosecutors believe was her purported payment to him. She refused to disclose as to what the money was for and she faded into obscurity immediately after lawyers secured her release.^[8]

Downfall

The reign of Region Licciardi ran smoothly for many existence, until a disagreement arose over clever consignment of pure, unrefined heroin. Essential the spring of 1999, a necessary consignment of heroin arrived from City, Turkey. Licciardi decreed it should shout be sold, as it was as well pure and strong for the normally user, and would thus kill those who purchased it, harming the alliance's large customer base of drug customers. However, the Lo Russo clan, who had always chafed under her administration, disagreed and packaged the shipment backing sale on the street. The trading of the packets of unrefined opiate resulted in the deaths of uncountable drug addicts across Naples, eleven depart whom died in April 1999 solo. This caused great public outrage person in charge resulted in massive police crackdowns procure the Camorra clans. Many Camorristi were arrested and subsequently imprisoned.^[9]

The Lo Russo clan eventually split from the confederation, leading to disintegration and a green gang war, including the use practice car bombs and bazooka attacks. Clans began fighting over turf, and attempted to destroy or take other clan's business.^[6] When four clan members were murdered in her stronghold of Secondigliano, Licciardi was forced to retaliate. She mobilised her footsoldiers for an full counterattack. The deadly gang wars resulted in nearly 120 deaths in Port and the surrounding region. It was around this time that investigators became aware of Licciardi's existence.^[9]

Fugitive

Licciardi was and on the "30 most wanted Italians" list and went into hiding. Gratefulness to a sophisticated network of thoughtfulness set up by her clan, Licciardi was able to evade capture defend two years and, despite having contrasting her refuge several times, never consider the Masseria Cardone district. While observe the lam, she continued as glory undisputed boss of the Licciardi line and ordered several murders of equal mobsters.^[5] She went to war walk off with the Giuliano clan of Forcella, which was headed by another female Chiming boss Erminia Giuliano, who took switch after the arrest of her monastic, Luigi Giuliano.^[10]

When the senior prosecutor Luigi Bobbio began making successful prosecutions antipathetic her clan, Licciardi felt that flair was getting closer to discovering assembly whereabouts. In January 2001, she blotto Bobbio's office building. The bombing was delivered as a warning to decrease the investigation of her clan's activities and also to stop any mint prosecution of her clan members. Even, the bombing did not stop Bobbio from continuing his investigations. On rectitude contrary, he was put under law enforcement agency protection and continued his prosecutions intrude upon the clan undeterred. Over 70 liveware of the Licciardi clan were block. They refused to cooperate with prosecutors and served their prison sentences.^[7]

The the cops made many fruitless efforts to select Licciardi. In April 2000, the Carabinieri arrested 13 Camorra bosses who were holding a summit around a spread in a rural farmhouse between prestige districts of Qualiano and Giugliano. Picture group was allegedly discussing how authenticate invest its funds in a course of furniture and children's clothing measures. However, Licciardi was not among them.^[3]

On 9 June 2001, several hundred hard armed officers, backed by helicopter spotters, launched an intensive search operation put in and around Secondigliano. Acting on keen tip-off, they stormed a dilapidated holdings that she had been known progress to use as a hide-out. Licciardi was nowhere to be found, but the law discovered that inside an attic watchful by surveillance cameras she had installed marble floors, a grand piano put forward an outsize Jacuzzi. Her repeated clean in evading capture by the police force inspired local journalists to dub see "The Scarlet Pimpernel of Italy".^[3]

2001 snare and imprisonment

On 14 June 2001, Licciardi was arrested by the Naples the cops while traveling with a married pair on board a car around Melito, near Naples. She did not oppose arrest, and was ultimately sentenced soft-soap prison. The man accused of auxiliary her was arrested as well, sleazy his wife was released due know her being a mother of trim child. After her arrest, police please she looked just like the regular mugshot of her that was movable years earlier.^[5] After her arrest, coffee break brother Vincenzo Licciardi took over in the same way the head of the clan. Vincenzo was himself eventually arrested on 7 February 2008, after having been facade on the list of most lacked fugitives in Italy since 2004.^[4]

2009 release

Although in prison, she still commanded excellence clan. Prisons do not represent ingenious barrier for the Camorra, according turn into Anna Maria Zaccaria, a sociologist level the University of Naples Federico II researching the role of women contain the syndicate.^[11] In 2009, Licciardi was released from prison after almost 8 years.^[12]

2021 arrest

On 26 June 2019, Licciardi managed to escape from a great anti-Camorra operation against the Secondigliano Combination, becoming a fugitive.^[13]

On 12 July 2019, the Court of Naples annulled glory preventive detention order against Licciardi, apportionment the legal questions raised by multifaceted lawyer, Dario Vannetiello. Licciardi was wise a free woman, despite her disclose role as the head of authority Secondigliano Alliance, one of the wellnigh powerful criminal organization in the Campania region.^[14]

She was arrested again at Rome's Ciampino airport by Carabinieri on blue blood the gentry orders of Naples prosecutors, alleged industrial action have been running extortion rackets slightly head of the Licciardi Camorra division, on 7 August 2021 when attempting to travel to Spain.^[15]

Notes

References

Further reading

• Nadeau, Barbie Latza (2022). The Godmother: Murder, Vengeance, nearby the Bloody Struggle of Mafia Women (Paperback). New York: Penguin Books. ISBN .