Enrico Alfano

Camorra boss Enrico Alfano at the Cuocolo trial in Viterbo in 1911

Enrico Alfano (Naples, 1874 - unknown), known as "Erricone", was considered to be one of the chiefs of the Camorra, a Mafia-type organisation in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy, at the turn of the 20th century. He was described as “a kind of president of the confederation.”^[1]

Early life

The son of a shoemaker,^[2] Alfano began as a fruit merchant in Naples and speculating on the cattle fairs. He apparently became affiliated with the Camorra at an early age, but this is not certain because he was not mentioned in a 1901 investigation report by the Ministry of Interior.^[3] According to an informer, Alfano had become the head of the Camorra after the death of Ciccio Cappuccio in 1892.^[4]

He was a man of commanding presence. Across his cheek he bore a long scar, the sfregio (a knife slash for dishonour; a sign of Camorra punishment). He was arrested many times as an accomplice in homicide, robbery and less important charges, but had never been convicted.^[5] Alfano imposed his position when he defeated the Camorra head, the capintesta (head-in-chief) Totonno 'o pappagallo, in a zumpata – a kind of ritual initiation knife duel – despite the fact that his adversary sent his Mastino dog to attack Alfano.^[2]

Camorra boss

While Luigi Fucci, known as 'O Gassusaro, was the nominal head, the capintesta, of the Camorra at the time, Alfano was the actual leader. He had his own representative in the twelve districts next to the capintrito rionale that answered to Fucci.^[2]

In 1902, the famous French vaudeville singer and dancer and vedette of the Folies Bergère, Eugénie Fougère, who was performing at the Salone Margherita a café-chantant in Naples, contacted Alfano to get back he stolen jewelry. Within a few days, Alfano tracked the thiefs and restored the jewelry. The case hit the news headlines and Alfano was arrested for complicity with the thiefs, but was absolved.^[2]

Cuocolo murder

Alfano was charged with the murder of Gennaro Cuocolo and his wife, suspected of being a police spy, on June 6, 1906. The murder case led to one of the most complex legal cases of the twentieth century.^[6] The police moved quickly to arrest Alfano and his brother Ciro, Giovanni Rapi, a primary school teacher and usurer, and two members of the Camorra rank and file, Gennaro Ibello and Gennaro Jacovitti. They had frequented a restaurant in Torre del Greco, in the vicinity of the Cuocolo murder. However, the investigation did not produce evidence and the suspects were released from jail 50 days later, not in the least thanks to the intervention of the priest Ciro Vitozzi, the “guardian angel” of the Camorra.^[6][7]

The murder investigation was taken over by the Carabinieri and delegated to Captain Carlo Fabbroni. Fabbroni accused the Naples police of corruption and inefficiency. The investigation got new momentum when Gennaro Abbatemaggio, a young Camorrista and a past Carabinieri informer serving a jail sentence in Naples gave his version of the facts: the decision to kill Cuocolo, suspected of being a police spy, had been taken at a meeting chaired by Alfano.^[6]

In New York

Meanwhile, Alfano fled to Rome, obtained a false passport and sailed for the United States from Marseilles. He disembarked on March 17, 1907, in New York disguised as a member of the ship’s crew. In New York he began to run a gambling den in the basement of 108 Mulberry Street. He became one of the primary underworld targets of police sergeant Joseph Petrosino of the New York City Police Department, who believed Alfano to be a big player in the New York branch of the Camorra.^[8]

On April 17, 1907, Petrosino and his agents raided the apartment where Alfano was living and arrested him. He had been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude in Italy and was expelled. He was put behind bars in Naples.^[9] According to some source Alfano was the man behind Petrosino’s murder in Palermo on March 12, 1909,^[5] but has since been attributed to the Sicilian Mafia, and to Vito Cascioferro in particular.

Trial in Viterbo

Back in Italy, Alfano stood trial at Viterbo for the Cuoccolo murders. On March 27, 1909, the Assistant Public Prosecutor committed 47 persons for trial by the Court of Assizes in Naples. However, due to many obstacles and attempts to corrupt the authorities the trial was transferred to the Court of Assizes in Viterbo.^[6]

The Cuocolo trial was followed with great interest by the newspapers and the general public both in Italy as well as in the United States. The trial was transformed from a murder trial into one against the Camorra as a whole. The hearings began in the spring of 1911, and continued for twelve months. Fabbroni intended to use the trial to strike the final blow to the Camorra.^[6][7]

Funds to pay the defendant’s lawyers were reportedly collected in Naples and from Neapolitan restaurants in New York. The amount collected was 50,000 lire, or US$ 10,000, at the start of the trial. Giovanni Rapi, the Camorra’s “treasurer”, had an interest in a private bank in New York where the savings of immigrants were forwarded to Italy. The New York defence fund treasurer was Andrea Attanasio, also sought in connection with the Cuocolo matter.^[9][7]

Alfano claimed he was innocent. "I am the victim of yellow journalism,” he told the judge. “I have been ruined by the Carabinieri. The story that I have been the head of the camorra is a legend. I was neither its head nor its tail. I admit that I have committed some excesses. What youth of my social class in Naples has not?"^[3]

Conviction

On July 8, 1912, the trial ended with a guilty verdict and the defendants, including 27 leading Camorra bosses, were sentenced to a total of 354 years’ imprisonment. The main defendants Enrico Alfano and Giovanni Rapi were sentenced to thirty years, and government witness Abbatemaggio to five years.^[6][10][11]

After his conviction Alfano was transferred to the prison of Sassari, on the island of Sardinia. The convicts did all in their power to see the famous criminal and to pay him court. As The New York Times reported: "They put themselves at his disposal as subjects would to a sovereign." Many fan letters addressed to him arrived at the penitentiary, including love letters from women.^[12]

In 1926, fifteen years later government witness Gennaro Abbatemaggio withdrew his accusations, but the case was never reopened.^[6]

References

• Behan, Tom (1996). The Camorra, London: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-09987-0
• Critchley, David (2009). The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-99030-0
• (Italian) Di Fiore, Gigi (1993). Potere camorrista: quattro secoli di malanapoli, Naples: Guida Editori, ISBN 88-7188-084-6
• (Italian) Paliotti, Vittorio (2006). Storia della Camorra, Rome: Newton Compton editore, ISBN 88-541-0713-1
• Romano, Anne T. (2010). Italian Americans in Law Enforcement, Xlibris Corporation, ISBN 978-1-4535-5881-2