Francesco Schiavone

Francesco Schiavone (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃesko skjaˈvoːne]; born 3 March 1954) is a member of the Camorra, the Caserta organized crime syndicate, and the head of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta. Because of his thick, dark beard, he has been dubbed "Sandokan", after the main character of a popular 1970s television series starring Kabir Bedi.

Early career

He started his criminal career as a driver and bodyguard of Umberto Ammaturo. His first arrest was in 1972 for illegal possession of firearms. Schiavone was involved in several bloody clan wars of the Camorra in which dozens of people were killed in the Naples area in the past decades. He sided with Antonio Bardellino, the founder of the Casalesi clan and prominent leader of the Nuova Famiglia, and Mario Iovine against the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO) of Raffaele Cutolo. When the NCO was defeated, an internal feud broke out between Bardellino and Iovine. Schiavone, together with Francesco Bidognetti and Vincenzo Di Falco sided with Iovine.

A new feud broke out between the Di Falco clan and Iovine-Schiavone. In December 1990, De Falco allegedly betrayed them making a tip-off to police against Schiavone and Francesco Bidognetti and the latters ordered Vincenzo Di Falco's killing on 2 February 1991 in Casal di Principe. In retaliation his brother Nunzio Di Falco killed Mario Iovine on 6 March 1991, in Portugal. While in custody the Di Falco clan was defeated. As the old bosses, such as Bardellino and Iovine, and potential younger leaders like Bidognetti and De Falco disappeared, he became the boss of the clan in the 1990s, being the strongest and most cunning of his generation.