«We are not all the same, my surname doesn’t bother me»

“I dedicate the victory to my family and my fans, many of them are children and this fills me with joy.” Talking is Armando Casamonica, 23 years old, who has just grabbed the title of Italian super lightweight champion fighting in Palermo against Gianluca Picardi from Campania. The “Furia del Quadraro” did not hold back in the 10 rounds and the judges’ verdict in her favor on Friday evening was unanimous. The family to which he dedicates the title today bears a heavy surname, that of the clan of Sinti origins which made itself known in the capital (and beyond) for usury, extortion and drug dealing, acquiring an increasingly higher criminal rank over the years.

Casamonica, the window pushers (cousins). «Cold beers and stadium tickets»: this is how they evaded controls

THE RUBBLE

He saw the rubble of his house perched on the Roman aqueduct demolished by the bulldozers of the Capitol in 2018. And from that rubble Armando rose again: “It is the victory of redemption.” Of those who, he assures, have “taken the right path”. His surname “doesn’t worry me because I’m simply myself, I go my own way and I’ll do everything to always keep it straight…”. He talks about the thousand sacrifices: «Every day is a war between you and yourself, a psychological war to keep up the incentive to train. I had been preparing for this title for a long time, never a distraction, just sacrifices and a lot of perseverance.” Armando discovered boxing almost by chance when he was a child. «Instead of kicking the ball I got into the ring, at 13 I started having my first matches». For many kids he is an idol, very followed on social media. «I want to be a positive symbol for them. The Casamonicas? Whoever makes a mistake pays, whoever doesn’t make a mistake doesn’t pay. In my family we don’t even have a fine.” Occasional jobs, in security, as a bouncer, “but now I’m just focused on training.” No girlfriend at the moment, “better not to distract me”, he jokes. Sandro and Romolo (Zorba) Casamonica were also boxers, the latter an Olympian in Los Angeles 84. Another boxer was Domenico Spada, known as Vulcano, former middleweight champion, convicted together with other members of the Spada and Casamonica clans for crimes of association mafia. In the ranks of Roman crime, boxers trained in debt collection and punitive expeditions on behalf of the bosses were trained. Like Orial Kolaj, an Albanian naturalized Italian, used by the Camorra clans to convince retailers to install their slots, or Kevin Di Napoli, who ended up in prison and then in the community and recently got back into a ring. What does Armando think of them? “If you do something like that you’ll be completely out of your mind.” From Quadraro to Romanina everyone is now waiting for him for a big party. In Casamonica style.

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