The head of the Camorra clan had been in prison for 26 years and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His confessions could open the doors to new revelations on some unsolved mysteries and on the relationship between the clan and politics. Roberto Saviano: “Will he really collaborate or did he just do it to avoid life imprisonment?”
Francesco Schiavone, the Camorra boss known as “Sandokan”, has repented. He was one of the last diehards of the Casalese Camorra, custodian of important secrets, but after 26 years in prison, most spent in hard prison regime, the undisputed leader of the Casalesi clan, decided to collaborate with justice.
The news, first reported by the newspaper “Cronache di Caserta”, was confirmed by the National Anti-Mafia Directorate. In recent days the police went to Casal di Principe to propose to the clan leader’s relatives, including his son Ivahnoe, to enter the protection program. According to what we learn, the decision was made in recent weeks, during which the DNA and the DDA of Naples carried out work with the utmost discretion.
Schiavone was arrested in 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Spartacus maxi trial and for several murders; before him, his first-born son Nicola decided to repent in 2018, then his second son Walter in 2021. The other sons Emanuele Libero, who will be released from his cell next August, and Carmine remain in prison, while Sandokan’s wife, Giuseppina Nappa, is not in Casal di Principe. Sandokan’s decision could also be a message to some not to try to reorganize the clan, a way to put a tombstone on the aspirations of other possible successors. Francesco Schiavone’s collaboration could shed light on some unsolved mysteries, such as the killing of the clan’s founder Antonio Bardellino in Brazil in 1988, or on the connections between the Camorra and politics.
To this day, the other historic Casalesi leader Francesco Bidognetti, known as “Cicciotto e Mezzanotte”, in prison since 1993, and Michele Zagaria, captured on 7 December 2011 after sixteen years on the run, remain irreducible in their desire not to collaborate with the State. . Among the Casalesi bosses who have instead decided to collaborate with justice also appears Antonio Iovine, “o ninno”, arrested in 2010 after 15 years on the run.
Schiavone, nicknamed Sandokan for an alleged resemblance to Kamir Bedi who had played the character in a well-known TV series in the 1970s, was born in Casal di Principe on 3 March 1954. Convicted several times, including for murder, and to a life sentence at the end of the Spartacus trial, he is today under the 41 bis regime, confirmed in January 2018 by the Supreme Court which rejected a request for revocation presented by his lawyers
«Francesco Schiavone’s repentance is certainly a little late but it is still importantbecause it means that these people also have a conscience” commented Marisa Diana, sister of Don Peppe, the priest killed by the Casalesi clan on 19 March 1994, the thirtieth anniversary of which occurred this year.
Actuality
I am Roberto Saviano, condemned to death by the Casalesi
by Gianluca Di Feo
16-08-2007
Roberto Saviano’s harsh comment was not long in coming: “Will Schiavone collaborate or does he just want to avoid life imprisonment?”. Thus the writer of Gomorrah wrote on Instagram: «Schiavone is the head of the Casalesi clan (together with Bidognetti) and he has decided to collaborate with justice. Will he really be like this? Will he collaborate by giving important information or will he do like his son and wife (and other former bosses) who have said very little to date? And then the writer of Gomorrah concludes: «Aware of the weakness of the State in its search only to be able to communicate repentance, will it be enough for him to provide some evidence of murder, some bribe and avoid life imprisonment? Will he be able to do it without revealing where the Camorra’s money is and without demonstrating real political business connections? We will find out by monitoring and analyzing what will happen.”
