A so-called super boss of a powerful clan within the Camorra mafia has turned state witness and is collaborating with investigators in Naples, Italian media reported yesterday.
Antonio Iovine, one of the four bosses of the infamous Casalesi clan, started answering the questions of anti-mafia prosecutors this month, La Repubblica wrote. The Naples daily Il Mattino declared it "a historic choice".
Aged 49, but known to all as o’ninno (the baby) for his youthful face and rapid ascent of the Casalesi power structure, Iovine is thought to have led the business side of the clan’s activities before his arrest in 2010 and subsequent jailing for life. All four bosses are behind bars since 2008. But “until now, none of the core leadership of the Casalesi has ever turned state witness”, said John Dickie, professor of Italian studies at University College London and author of books on the mafia. “It will be interesting to see if this is the start of the fissuring of this leadership group.”
Reports of Iovine's decision were greeted with excitement by Roberto Saviano, a journalist whose bestseller Gomorrah earned him repeated death threats from the Casalesi, a group known to have made huge inroads into construction, waste disposal and politics."This is news that risks changing for good what we know to be true about business and organised crime not only in Campania [and] not only in Italy," he wrote.
“He [Iovine] is someone who knows everything. And so now everything could change. The earth is trembling for a large part of the business and political worlds – and for entire branches of institutions.
“The companies, big and small, which . . . were born and prospered thanks to the flow of cash . . . feel as if they’re in a room whose walls are increasingly closing in.” – (Guardian service)