One of Italy’s most notorious mafia bosses, Francesco “Sandocan” Schiavone, has become an officer of justice after serving 26 years in prison, judicial sources told AFP on Friday, News.ro reported.

Francesco Schiavone, who was the head of the Casalesi clan based in Casal di Principe, near Naples, was considered the most powerful representative of the Neapolitan mafia – the Camorra – and until his arrest was considered one of the richest and most violent criminals in Europe. yes, in 1998.

At the Spartacus trial, he was sentenced to several life sentences. His decision to cooperate with the judiciary is one of many “strong blows dealt to the Camorra and organized crime”, the president of the parliamentary anti-mafia commission, Chiara Colosimo, hailed.

Members Francesco Schiavone and Casalesi were involved in the brutal settlement of scores between the clans that fought for control of Casal di Principe in the 1980s and 1990s and the drug trade.

The brutality of the Casalesi and their economic and political power was exposed in Gomorrah, Robert Saviano’s successful book, which was later made into a film and television series.

Several members of Schiavone’s family have agreed to cooperate with police

On Friday, the writer expressed skepticism about the possibility of Francesco Schiavone’s real cooperation with justice against organized crime.

“Can he do that without revealing where the Camorra’s money is and without showing real connections to politics and business?” asks Saviano on Instagram.

Several members of Francesco Schiavone’s family have in the past decided to cooperate with the justice system by becoming “pentiti” (repentants). His cousin Carmine Schiavone started working on it in the 1990s and, among other things, told how the mafia dumped toxic waste, which is believed to be the source of an increase in cancer among the population, into fields, wells and lakes in the local region .

Sandokan’s two imprisoned sons, Nicolas and Walter, began cooperating with justice in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

Sandokan was recently transferred from a prison in northern Italy to the prison in Aquila, where the Sicilian godfather Matteo Messina Denaro was imprisoned before his death last year.

Some publications write that the rumors about his illness, which are intended to explain the transfer to this prison, are just a scam, which aims to hide the transfer related to cooperation with justice.

Francesco Schiavone was nicknamed “Sandocan” due to his vague resemblance to the actor who played such a character, a pirate, in the popular TV series of the 70s.