Cosimo Di Lauro

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Cosimo Di Lauro (born December 8, 1973)[1] is an Italian Camorrista and former acting boss of the Di Lauro clan from Naples. Due to his flamboyant nature and passion for designer clothes, he earned the nickname "The Designer Don". Di Lauro is known by some as "o' Chiatto" (fat boy), and to journalists as the "prince regent".[2]

Biography

Taking over from his father

As the eldest son of the Camorra boss, Paolo Di Lauro aka Ciruzzo 'o milionario ("Ciruzzo the millionaire"), Cosimo took over control of the family business after his father needed to hide from the police.[3][4]

Cosimo Di Lauro wanted to centralize the drug dealing operation that had been run as a franchise in which dealers paid the Di Lauros a fee for doing business and were allowed to buy the drugs from any available source.[5] He removed older gangsters and replaced them with young toughs new to the business. In revolt, a faction known as the "secessionists" (Italian: Scissionisti) challenged the Di Lauros in October 2004.[5]

Scampia feud

One of the local dealers, Raffaele Amato, disputed the new rules, fled to Spain and organized a revolt against his former bosses. In Scampia, they are known as the Spaniards. Di Lauro responded by ordering the killing of two rebel associates, Fulvio Montanino and Claudio Salerno on October 28, 2004. During their funeral three days later, police arrested two men armed with machine guns[6] who were planning to spray the funeral procession.[5][7]

The resulting gang war, known as the Scampia feud, resulted in over 60 murders in 2004 and 2005. The two bands fought each other with a brutality that stunned even hardened Carabinieri. The feud caused widespread public revulsion against the Camorra and led to a major crackdown by the authorities, resulting in the capture and imprisonment of high ranking Camorra figures, including his father.[8]

Arrest

Cosimo Di Lauro was eventually arrested on January 21, 2005, in the crime infested neighbourhood of Scampia.[9] In February, 2008, he was handed down a 15 year prison sentence for associazione camorristica.[10] On December 13, 2008, he was again sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering the murder of Gelsomina Verde, the former girlfriend of a rival Scissionisti gangster, Gennaro Notturno on November 21, 2004.[11][12]

Gelsomina was abducted, tortured and subsequently murdered by Di Lauro clan members, in an effort to make her disclose Notturno's whereabouts. The killers then set her body on fire inside her car, in order to protect them from the "evil eye".[13][14]

Camorra sex symbol

Despite his reputation for killing at least ten people, he had become an unlikely sex symbol, as teenage schoolgirls in Naples circulated his picture on their mobile phones.[15] "He isn't a boss [to them], but someone who's made it," according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper. "Someone with money, women and power. He even looks good when the handcuffs are being slapped on his wrists."[2]

References

  1. ↑ (Italian) E ora è caccia a Marco e Nunzio, Il Roma, March 28, 2007,
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 'Designer don' wins hearts of teenagers, The Daily Telegraph, February 1, 2005
  3. ↑ Gang's Deadly Feud Plagues Naples, Los Angeles Times, February 17, 2005
  4. ↑ (Italian) E ora è caccia a Marco e Nunzio, Il Roma, March 28, 2007
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 In Naples, a Mob Family Feud, The Washington Post, February 8, 2005
  6. ↑ (Italian) Fermata la strage, November 1, 2004, InterNapoli.it
  7. ↑ Weekends turn bloody in Naples mafia war, The Guardian, December 18, 2004
  8. ↑ Italian Police Arrest Fugitive Crime Leader in Naples Gang War, The New York Times, September 17, 2005
  9. ↑ (Italian) Arrestato Cosimo Di Lauro, figlio ed erede del boss Paolo, La Repubblica, January 21, 2005
  10. ↑ (Italian) Condannati i Di Lauro Jr., La Repubblica (Napoli), February 16, 2008 (Napolionline)
  11. ↑ (Italian) Cosimo Di Lauro, ergastolo per Gelsomina, Corriere del Mezzogiorno, December 13, 2008
  12. ↑ (Italian) Di Lauro, ergastolo per il delitto di Gelsomina Verde che Saviano aveva raccontato in Gomorra, La Repubblica Napoli, December 13, 2008
  13. ↑ 'The blood is running': Mafia wars erupt again, The Independent, December 8, 2004
  14. ↑ (Italian) Roberto Saviano sul delitto di Gelsomina Verde robertosaviano.it
  15. ↑ Caught in the crossfire, The Guardian, February 10, 2005

External links

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