Pupetta Maresca
Pupetta Maresca | |
---|---|
Castellamare di Stabia, Campania , Italy | |
Died | 29 December 2021 Castellamare di Stabia, Campania, Italy | (aged 86)
Nationality | Italian |
Spouse | |
Children | 3 |
Allegiance | Camorra |
Criminal charge | Murder |
Penalty | 18 years of imprisonment, later reduced to 13 years and 4 months |
Partner(s) | Umberto Ammaturo |
Assunta "Pupetta" Maresca (19 January 1935 – 29 December 2021) was an Italian criminal who was a well-known figure in the Camorra. She made international newspaper headlines in the mid-1950s when she killed the murderer of her husband in revenge.
Early life
Assunta Maresca was born in
Maresca was courted by a wealthy and powerful local
Revenge killing
Simonetti's style and power bothered other Camorristi. On 16 July 1955 in Naples, he was shot dead in a central square of Naples by Gaetano Orlando, a
On 14 October 1955, Maresca was arrested. Her trial started in April 1959 at the Court of Assizes in Naples.[7] The killing and the following trial made international headlines. At the trial, she defiantly declared, "I would do it again!" and the whole courtroom burst into cheers.[8]
One newspaper called her "The Diva of Crime". For the first time, the Court in Naples permitted microphones to be used so that the crowds could hear the proceedings. Proposals of marriage flooded in, and one musician composed a song in Pupetta's honour called "La legge d'onore" – the Law of Honour.[4] Nevertheless, she was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment, later reduced to 13 years and 4 months by the Court of Appeal.[7]
Madame Camorra
Maresca gave birth to her first child, Pasquale, in prison. She was
Maresca separated from Ammaturo in 1982, and continued her involvement with the Camorra. In February 1982, during the war between the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO) and the Nuova Famiglia (NF), she held a press conference to defend her men, publicly defying the NCO boss Raffaele Cutolo.[9] Cutolo had imposed a 'tax' on every case of smuggled cigarettes, a measure the Marescas resisted. Maresca’s favourite brother Ciro was shot in 1978. He survived, but was threatened again in prison by Cutolo's men in 1982.[3]
Later in 1982, Maresca and Ammaturo were arrested and charged with extortion as well as the murder of forensic scientist Aldo Semerari. Maresca denied involvement in these crimes for the remainder of her life. By contrast, Ammaturo, who was initially acquitted, later confessed to the murder after becoming a pentito in June 1993.[10] Maresca served four years in prison and then lived alone in Sorrento.[3]
Later life and death
Maresca died on 29 December 2021 at her residence in Castellammare di Stabia, at age 86.[2][11][12]
In popular culture
Maresca's life has been the subject of several films, including:
- La sfida (The Challenge; 1958), by Francesco Rosi, based on the story of Pascalone and Pupetta Maresca, with Rosanna Schiaffino as Maresca[13]
- Rai Tre.[14]
Notes
- ^ Giuffrida, Angela; Longrigg, Clare (30 December 2021). "Assunta Maresca, first female boss in Camorra mafia, dies aged 86". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ^ a b c (in Italian) Morta Pupetta Maresca, la dark lady di camorra aveva 86 anni: una vita tra faide e fiction, Il Mattino, 29 December 2021
- ^ a b c d Longrigg, Mafia Women, pp. 1-10
- ^ a b c La Legge d'Onore, Time Magazine, 20 April 1959
- ^ a b Fiandaca, Women and the Mafia, p. 12
- ^ a b Haberman, Clyde (4 September 2022). "When the Family Business Is Crime, Some Women Thrive". New York Times. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- ^ a b Pupetta Maresca Archived 30 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Criminology Museum Rome
- ^ 'Crimes Of Honor' Debated By Italy; Trial of Woman in Naples for Murder of Husband's Rival Stirs Nation, The New York Times, 7 April 1959.
- ^ a b Fiandaca, Women and the Mafia, p. 14
- ^ (in Italian) Il boss Ammaturo confessa: 40 avvisi, Corriere della Sera, 24 May 1994
- ^ "E' morta Pupetta Maresca, lady camorra degli anni '80". la Repubblica (in Italian). 29 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ^ "È morta Pupetta Maresca, la camorrista che sfidò Cutolo e visse tra faide di clan e fiction tv". La Stampa (in Italian). 30 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- OCLC 144629037. Archived from the originalon 4 July 2009.
- ^ (in Italian) 'La mia era solo un'inchiesta che non cercava lo scandalo', La Repubblica, 29 June 1994
References
- Longrigg, Clare (1998). Mafia Women, London: Vintage ISBN 0-09-959171-5
- Fiandaca, Giovanni (ed.) (2007), Women and the Mafia: Female Roles in Organized Crime Structures, New York: Springer ISBN 0-387-36537-0
Further reading
- Nadeau, Barbie Latza (2022). The Godmother: Murder, Vengeance, and the Bloody Struggle of Mafia Women (Paperback). New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0143136118.
External links
- (In Italian) "Pascalone 'e Nola"
- (In Italian) "Pupetta 50 anni dopo svende tutto a 10 euro", La Repubblica, 2 August 2005
- (In German) "Die Artischocken-Diktatur", Der Spiegel, 27 May 1959