Mafia boss Raffaele Cutolo, nicknamed "
the professor
" and protagonist of one of the most bloodthirsty periods of the Neapolitan mafia in the 70s and 80s, died on Wednesday February 17 at age 79 of sepsis, reported Thursday the Italian press.
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Raffaele Cutolo, who died in Parma hospital in Emilia-Romagna (north) after more than 57 years in detention, has never shown signs of remorse or collaborated with the justice system on the role of the organization he had founded the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (New Organized Camorra), which had authority over all the other clans.
Born in 1941 in the Naples region, he was sentenced for the first time in 1963 to life imprisonment for the murder of a man who had offended his sister.
In prison, his charisma and his talents as a poet earned him the nickname of "
teacher
" among his fellow prisoners.
He founded and managed his organization from the prison cell where he spent most of his adult life.
With him, ended the division of power between the great families of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia, which must all be accountable to him.
His power was such that he had connections with the secret services and the political world.
His reign was marked by waves of murders, averaging 300 per year, and his empire ranged from smuggling cigarettes to contracts with public administrations.
During his life, which inspired dozens of books and even a film, he repeatedly said that he was in possession of secrets that could have shaken the Italian state, without however ever taking action.
"
He was a powerful boss, even more than a prime minister
", commented the Neapolitan writer Roberto Saviano, quoted by the daily
La Stampa
.