Historic Camorra boss Francesco
'Sandokan' Schiavone, nicknamed after the TV version of the
Emilio Salgari exotic adventurer, on Wednesday returned to the
tough mafia prison regime dubbed 41 bis after prosecutors deemed
the information he had supplied since appearing to turn state's
evidence a few months ago as worthless.
The Naples Public Prosecutor's Office said it "has decided to
interrupt the cooperation process initiated a few months ago by
former Casalesi clan leader Francesco 'Sandokan' Schiavone,"
whose death threats forced anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviani
into round the clock police protection.
The investigators said they had decided to revoke the protection
programme to which he had been subjected, "believing that the
statements made so far by Schiavone were not useful."
Nicknamed 'Sandokan' after the fictional action hero played on
TV by Kabir Bedi as theTiger of Malaysia, the undisputed leader
of the Neapolitan Casalesi clan reportedly decided to cooperate
with Naples prosecutors at the end of March after 26 years in
jail under the tough 41-bis prison regime.
The decision by the notorious mobster, who earned his tag due to
an alleged resemblance to Indian actor Bedi, was confirmed
by the National Anti-Mafia Directorate (DNA).
Police also went to to the clan's base in Casal di Principe near
Caserta north of Naples to invite Schiavone's relatives,
including his son Ivanhoe, to enter the protection programme.
Two other sons, Nicola and Walter, decided to turn state's
witness respectively in 2018 and 2021, while Emanuele Libero and
Carmine remain in prison and Sandokan's wife Giuseppina Nappa is
not in Casal di Principe.
The Casalesi's death threats pushed Saviano into a police
protection scheme following the publication of his best-selling
exposé of the Camorra in Gomorra in 2006.
Arrested in 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008 in
the Spartacus trial against the Casalesi clan, it was hoped that
Schiavone could shed light on a number of unresolved mysteries
including the 1988 murder of clan founder Antonio Bardellino in
Brazil, and on the relationship between the Camorra mafia and
the political and business worlds in Italy.
But Saviano said on March 26 he was skeptical about Schiavone
spilling the beans on political-business-mafia links and other
long-time riddles.
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