Italian justice on Wednesday sentenced a leader of the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, to 12 years and eight months in prison for her role as the head of a clan, Italian media reported.
Maria Licciardi, 71, has been found guilty by a Naples court of participation in a mafia-like criminal association, extortion and violence.
"The piccoletta"
Nicknamed “la piccoletta” because of her small size, she was arrested in August 2021 at Rome airport as she was about to fly to Spain.
She is the sister of the late Gennaro Licciardi, founder of the family clan based in the suburbs of Scampia and Secondigliano in Naples.
She inspired the character of Scianel in the television series
Gomorrah
, an adaptation of the eponymous book by Italian writer Robert Saviano on the Neapolitan mafia.
She had already been sentenced to 10 years in prison before being released in December 2009, after which time she would have taken over the management of the clan's operations, according to media reports.
