Nicola Cosentino (born 2 January 1959) is an Italian politician. Nicknamed "Nick 'o mericano", he was a member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

from 9 May 1996 to 14 March 2013 for

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

and The People of Freedom in four legislatures, as well as undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance from 12 May 2008 to 14 July 2010 in the fourth Berlusconi government. In 2023, Italy's

Supreme Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

confirmed his conviction for external complicity in mafia association.

Early life and family

Cosentino was born in

Casal di Principe Casal di Principe (Campanian: or simply ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region of Campania, located about northwest of Naples and about southwest of Caserta. It has a population of approximately 21,000 ...

, one of

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

's strongholds near

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 ...

, in the

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

region. He is a distant relative of the

Casalesi clan The Casalesi clan is a clan within the Camorra, an Italian criminal organization, operating from Casal di Principe and San Cipriano d'Aversa in the province of Caserta between Naples and Latium. Formed by Antonio Bardellino, it is a confederatio ...

member Giuseppe Russo.

Career

Cosentino, a member of the

Italian Socialist Democratic Party The Italian Democratic Socialist Party (, PSDI), also known as Italian Social Democratic Party, was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. The longest serving partner in government for Christian Democracy, the PSDI had been an imp ...

, was municipal councillor in 1978−1980, then provincial councillor from 1980 to 1995. In that year, he was elected into the Chamber of Deputies for Forza Italia. In 2005, he ran for the presidency of the

province of Caserta The Province of Caserta ( it, Provincia di Caserta) is a province in the Campania region of southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Caserta, situated about by road north of Naples. The province has an area of , and had a total population of 9 ...

but was defeated by the

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an political alliance, alliance of list of political parties in Italy, political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree (Italy), Th ...

candidate Sandro De Franciscis. Cosentino was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in April 2008 for The People of Freedom,

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-destra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy, active—under several forms and names—since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed his Forza Italia party. Despite ...

party. In September 2008, through the confession of Camorra boss Gaetano Vassallo, he was implicated in a criminal scheme that involved the illegal treatment of toxic wastes in exchange of a monthly sum of €50,000. In 2009, magistrates Naples' anti-mafia commission sent to the Chamber of Deputies the request of arrest for Cosentino but its commission refused. In 2010, Cosentino was involved in a scandal related to wind energy systems in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, which led to the discovery of the new P2 or P3 (a reference to the

Propaganda Due Propaganda Due (; P2) was a Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient of Italy, founded in 1877. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it transformed into a criminal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-leftist, pseudo-Masonic, a ...

, a secret Masonic lodge of the 1970s−early 1980s, of which Berlusconi was a member). He was called in by several entrepreneurs and right-wing politicians. According to the Ordinary Court in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, the accuses were pressuring the Constitutional Court of Italy to consider as legitimate the

Lodo Alfano The Lodo Alfano (roughly "Alfano Law"), named after Berlusconi's Minister of Justice Angelino Alfano, was an Italian law, valid between 2008 and 2009, granting immunity from prosecution to the four highest political offices in Italy (the President ...

, a law that would have saved Berlusconi, the then Italian prime minister, from several of his trials; it was declared invalid; supporting the readmission of the For Lombardy regional list in the regional elections in

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

(the list had been banned due to use of fake signatures on the petitions that are required for a political party, or list of candidates to be placed on the ballot); favouring the appointment of Alfonso Marra in the Court of Appeal in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

; and supporting the candidature of Cosentino as president of Campania through a smear campaign against the other right-wing candidate. On 14 July 2010, Cosentino resigned as undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Economy, although he retained the role as regional coordinator of The People of Freedom in Campania, a position he held until 21 January 2013. On 27 April 2023, Cosentino was definitively sentenced to 10 years in prison for external complicity in mafia association.

References

External links

Nicola Cosentino
at Camera.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosentino, Nicola 1959 births Deputies of Legislature XIII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Forza Italia politicians Forza Italia (2013) politicians Italian Democratic Socialist Party politicians Living people People from the Province of Caserta Politicians of Campania The People of Freedom politicians