Raffaele Diana (; born in 1953) is an Italian Camorrista and senior boss 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 ...

from

Caserta Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Camp ...

. His nickname is ''Rafilotto''.

Background

A native of

San Cipriano d'Aversa San Cipriano d'Aversa () is an Italian commune and municipality in the Province of Caserta, region of Campania, located about northwest of Naples and about southwest of Caserta. The town is located on the territory of Agro aversano - a rural area ...

, Diana joined the Casalesi clan in late 70's, back when it was united under one single leader

Antonio Bardellino Antonio Bardellino (; May 4, 1945 – May 26, 1988) was a powerful Neapolitan '' Camorrista'' and boss of the Casalesi clan, having a prominent role in the organized crime in the province of Caserta during the 1980s. He was one of the last of the ...

who controlled the clan from his base in Brazil. He became close with Mario Iovine, Bardellino's right-hand man. Diana was widely believed to be one of responsible for the murder of Paride Salzillo, a nephew of the Casalesi boss. Salzillo was murdered in March 1988, the same day that Bardellino was killed. He played a key role in the Casalesi's war against 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. ...

, participating in the infamous, the Pagano Mennillo-Orsi-Gagliardi murders, in which Casalesi members positioned a machine gun on a hill in Ponte Annicchino and opened fire, killing four Cutoliani in Casal di Principe on 22 April 1989. Diana was one of the top-ranking Casalesi clan figures who was arrested on 13 December 1990, in Santa Lucia

carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...

operation together with

Francesco Schiavone Francesco Schiavone (; 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. He has been dubbed ''Sandokan'' after a popular 197 ...

Francesco Bidognetti Francesco Bidognetti (born January 21, 1951, in Casal di Principe) is a powerful Italian Camorrista. He is the chief lieutenant of Francesco Schiavone, boss of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta, and head of th ...

, Francesco Schiavone, and Giuseppe Russo. Shortly after being released, he was sent by the Italian government on an internal exile to

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

, where he organized a tour of extortion in Emilia-Romagna, where he was again arrested in Operation Zues.Raffaele Diana nell'elenco dei 30 latitanti più ricercati
- Pupia, 18 August 2008

Life as a fugitive and capture

Diana became a fugitive in 2004 after having been sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment. Shortly after, he was added to the List of thirty most wanted fugitives in Italy. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia along with fugitive Casalesi bosses Antonio Iovine and

Michele Zagaria Michele Zagaria (; born 21 May 1958) is an Italian Camorrista and one of the bosses of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta northwest of Naples. He was nicknamed , which translates to "twisted head", because of hi ...

at the culmination of the ten-year-long Spartacus Maxi-Trial on 19 June 2008. Raffaele Diana was eventually arrested on 2 May 2009, after having been on the run for five years. He was captured by officers of the mobile team of Caserta in an apartment 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 ...

, near Caserta, where he was hidden in a bunker of cement produced in the stairwell.Arrestato a Casal di Principe il boss della camorra Raffaele Diana
- Ministero dell'Interno, 3 May 2009 He was found in possession of two loaded pistols and some ammunition. A copy of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

, a book of

Padre Pio Francesco Forgione, OFM Cap., better known as Padre Pio and as Saint Pius of Pietrelcina ( it, Pio da Pietrelcina; 25 May 188723 September 1968), was an Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He is venerated as a s ...

of Pietrelcina, a copy of ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

'' and ''

Il Capo dei Capi ''Il Capo dei Capi'' (''The Boss of the Bosses'') is a six-part Italian miniseries which debuted on Canale 5 between October and November 2007. It tells the story of Salvatore Riina, alias ''Totò u Curtu'' (Totò the Short), a mafioso boss f ...

'' were also found. Diana's arrest was believed by law enforcement to have delivered a huge blow to the Casalesi.Casalesi, arrestato Diana, superlatitante da 5 anni
La Repubblica, 3 May 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diana, Raffaele 1953 births Camorristi Camorristi sentenced to life imprisonment Casalesi clan Fugitives Living people Italian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People from the Province of Caserta