Simply Maria: the "godmother" of the Camorra was arrested in Italy

At Rome's Ciampino airport, while trying to board a plane, Maria Licciardi, one of the bosses of the Neapolitan Camorra mafia, was arrested, reports La Repubblica.

The police were supposed to take her back in 2019, during a major mafosi sweep, but then Maria managed to escape - she was warned of a raid, since then she has been on the run. Licciardi is 70 years old, in the criminal community she is called the Godmother, Aunt Maria and Baby - because of her external diminutiveness. The female sex, small stature and gentle manners did not prevent her from leading one of the Camorra crime clans for several decades. According to sources, Licchardi is a born leader with exceptional intelligence and ruthlessness towards those who disagree with her.

Maria Licciardi became the boss of the mafia in the 1990s. This unspoken title went to her by inheritance, after her brother, nicknamed the Monkey, died in prison, and the nephew, who was supposed to inherit the family business, was killed. The Licciardi clan controlled the Naples suburb of Secondigliano, turning it, according to experts, into a "huge drug supermarket". To expand her business, Maria also formed a loose coalition between the various Camorra clans and added prostitution to drug smuggling - although the latter is prohibited by the mafia code. Over time, the coalition disintegrated: Lichchardi's feud with another family over a batch of heroin led to at least 53 murders of Camorra members.

In 2001, Licciardi was arrested and convicted of mafia-related crimes. She served eight years, and after being released, she became the head of another Camorra clan, the Secondigliano Alliance. The character of Annalisa Maliocca, nicknamed Chanel, in the famous Italian television series "Gomorrah" is written off from Maria Licciardi.

When she was arrested at the Rome airport, Licciardi, according to the police, did not blink an eye, saying that she was flying to visit her daughter in Malaga. Investigators believe that this is a lie: in fact, the godmother was trying to evade justice or was going on a business trip in order to expand her business in Spain. A trial will begin this week: Lichchardi is accused of links with the mafia, extortion and receiving illegal funds.