Ciro Mazzarella (

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, 2 April 1940 – Naples, 2 September 2018) was a historical Italian Camorrista, known in the media as the "king of cigarette smuggling", founder of the

Mazzarella clan The Mazzarella clan is a Campanian Camorra clan operating in the city of Naples. The clan is historically considered one of the most powerful groups of the Camorra. History The clan was founded in the 1960s by the Mazzarella brothers, Ciro know ...

and was one of the last remaining leaders of a bygone era of the Camorra.

History

Born in a family of important Camorra members, Ciro Mazzarella aka 'o Scellone, was nephew of

Michele Zaza Michele Zaza (; Procida, April 10, 1945 – Rome, July 18, 1994) was a member of the Camorra criminal organisation who was also initiated in the Sicilian Mafia. He headed the Zaza clan (later Mazzarella clan) in Naples. Zaza was known as ''’O Pa ...

, and considered his successor in the business. At the beginning he worked for his uncle's powerful clan, known in that time as the Zaza clan, but soon started his own business, specifically in the 1960s, buying small ships and starting his own smuggling empire, since then, he quickly demonstrated his entrepreneurial abilities. During that decade, he founded the

, becoming independent from the Zaza clan, led by his uncle. 'O Scellone had also good relationships with other powerful bosses of the Camorra, such as

Mario Fabbrocino Mario Fabbrocino (; January 5, 1943 – April 23, 2019) was a powerful Italian crime boss of the Camorra – the Neapolitan mafia. History Mario Fabbrocino was the leader of the Fabbrocino clan, based in the Vesuvius area, with its sphere of inf ...

and Alfredo Maisto. He was also seen in the company of Vincenzo Casillo of the

Nuova Camorra Organizzata The Nuova Camorra Organizzata (Italian: New Organized Camorra) was an Italian Camorra criminal organization founded in the late 1970s by a Neapolitan Camorrista, Raffaele Cutolo, in the region of Campania. It was also known by the initials NCO. ...

, in fact, Mazzarella never took a side in the war between the

Nuova Famiglia The Nuova Famiglia (Italian: "New Family") was an Italian Camorra confederation created in the 1970s and headed by the most powerful Camorra bosses of the time, Carmine Alfieri, the Nuvoletta brothers, Michele Zaza, Luigi Giuliano and Antonio Ba ...

and the NCO, despite the top position his uncle Michele Zaza held inside the NF. The clan he created, despite having become very powerful, has been involved in several wars over the decades, in particular the factions led by his brothers, Gennaro and Vincenzo. One of the most striking examples of wars in which his clan was involved, was with the

Contini clan The Contini clan is a powerful Neapolitan Camorra clan operating in the city of Naples, and more specifically in the area of the Naples Central Station. The clan's traditional powerbase is the Arenaccia district. It also operates in the Poggiorea ...

, which led to the murder of his father, Francesco Mazzarella. Ciro Mazzarella was also known for having strong relations with the

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...

, in particular with the

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

's mafia family. According to justice collaborators, the late boss of the Catanian mafia,

Giuseppe Calderone Giuseppe “Pippo” Calderone (Catania, November 1, 1925 – Catania, September 8, 1978) was an influential Sicilian mafioso from Catania, eventually becoming the capo of the Catania Mafia family. He became the ‘secretary’ of the Interprov ...

was the godfather in the baptism of one of the Mazzarella's sons.

Mazzarella's criminal empire

In the early 1990s Mazzarella had already amassed a great wealth, and in 1992 he decided to move to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, after losing a war between Camorra clans in Naples. From his logistics base in

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, he created an enviable economic empire with cigarette smuggling that arrived from

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

. According to numerous investigations, during the early 1990s, Mazzarella would have several contacts in the top echelons of the Montenegro's government, and supposedly reached agreements with the Montenegrin politician

Milo Đukanović Milo Đukanović ( cnr, Мило Ђукановић, ; born 15 February 1962) is a Montenegrin politician serving as the President of Montenegro since 2018, previously serving in the role from 1998 to 2003. He also served as the Prime Minister o ...

. Mazzarella also conspired to gain control of Montenegrin government warehouses, which he would hold through a Panamanian company called Gisto, based in Lugano. According to the parliamentary inquiry commission of 1996, Ciro Mazzarella headed a true illegal empire: 200 billion lire in turnover, for a net profit of over 6 billion lire monthly (€4.4 million monthly, in today's exchange). In 2002 Mazzarella was arrested in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and after his release from prison in 2006, he returned to live in Naples.

Later years

After his return to Naples, Mazzarella used to be much more reserved. Rarely in the news, in the early 2010s he decided to collaborate on an autobiography made by the author Fabrizio Capecelatro. The book was published in 2013. On 2 September 2018 Ciro Mazzarella died in his villa in the affluent neighbourhood of

Posillipo Posillipo (; nap, Pusilleco ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Roma ...

, Naples, at the age of 78.

History

Mazzarella's criminal empire

Later years

See also