Pupetta Maresca
| Pupetta Maresca | |
|---|---|
| File:Pupeta Mareca young.jpg
A portrait of a young Maresca as a beauty queen. ca. 1954
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| Born | Assunta Maresca 19 January 1935 Castellamare di Stabia, Italy |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Castellamare di Stabia, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Criminal charge | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | 18 years' imprisonment, later reduced to 13 years and 4 months |
| Spouse(s) | Pasquale Simonetti (m. 1955; died 1955) |
| Children | 3 |
| Allegiance | Camorra |
Assunta Maresca (19 January 1935 – 29 December 2021), better known as Pupetta ("Little Doll"), was a beauty queen who became a well-known figure in the Camorra. She made the international newspaper headlines in the mid-1950s when she killed the murderer of her husband in revenge.
Contents
Early life
She was the daughter of Alberto Maresca, a dangerous smuggler, and nephew of Vincenzo Maresca, sentenced to seven years for the murder of his brother, Gerardo.[1] Vincenzo Maresca was a known Camorrista who controlled their hometown Castellamare di Stabia, south of Naples. The family was known as the Lampetielli, the lightning knives, for their expert use of switchblades and made their money in contraband cigarettes. She was the only girl in a family of four brothers. Tiny, pretty, and spoiled, she was nicknamed Pupetta (Little Doll).[2] At the age of 19, she won a beauty contest and became Miss Rovegliano, a suburban village of Naples.[3]
She was courted by a wealthy and powerful local guappo, or Camorra boss, from Palma Campania, Pasquale Simonetti, known as Pasquale 'e Nola, who worked in the fruit and vegetable market in Naples and dealt in smuggled goods. On 27 April 1955, they married.[4]
Revenge killing
Simonetti's style and power bothered other Camorristi. On 16 July 1955, he was shot dead by Gaetano Orlando, a hitman commissioned by his rival Antonio Esposito, another Camorrista. The six-months-pregnant Pupetta was devastated. She believed the police knew who the perpetrator was but were not prepared to do anything about it. On 4 August 1955, she drove to Naples with her younger brother, Ciro. When they met Esposito, she reached into her handbag and pulled out a Smith & Wesson .38. Holding it with both hands ("I was afraid I would miss," she explained later), she opened fire and killed Esposito in broad daylight.[3][4]
On 14 October 1955, she was arrested. Her trial started in April 1959 at the Court of Assizes in Naples.[5] The killing and the following trial made international headlines. At the trial, she defiantly declared, "I would do it again!" and the whole courtroom burst into cheers.[6]
One newspaper called her "The Diva of Crime," and for the first time in history the Court in Naples permitted microphones to be used so that the crowds could hear what was going on. Proposals of marriage flooded in, and one musician was composing a song in Pupetta's honour called La legge d'onore – the Law of Honour.[3] Nevertheless, she was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment, later reduced to 13 years and 4 months by the Court of Appeal.[5]
Madame Camorra
Maresca gave birth to her first child in prison. She was pardoned in 1965, but "Madame Camorra", as she was dubbed, continued to be involved in criminal activities. She became the lover of yet another Camorra boss, the drug baron Umberto Ammaturo, and gave birth to twins. She supported his criminal business. In 1974, when her son was 18 he was abducted and murdered. His death remains a mystery, but she believed the assailant was Ammaturo – who denied knowing anything about his death.[2][7] Pasquale did not accept his mother's relationship with Ammaturo, who had threatened him several times. Ammaturo, suspected of the murder, was later acquitted for lack of evidence.[1]
Their separation in 1982 did not mean the end of Pupetta’s Camorra activities. In February 1982, during the war between the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO) and the Nuova Famiglia (NF), she made an appearance to defend her men at a press conference in which she publicly defied the ruthless Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo, the head of the NCO.[7] Cutolo had imposed a 'tax' on every case of smuggled cigarettes and the Marescas resisted. In 1978 Ciro, Pupetta’s favourite brother, was shot. He survived but while in prison in 1982, Cutolo's men threatened him again.[2]
Later in 1982, she was arrested with Ammaturo for the murder of forensic scientist Aldo Semerari, and extortion, crimes which she denied for the remainder of her life. However, Ammaturo, who was initially acquitted, later confessed to the murder after becoming a pentito on June 1993.[8] Maresca served four years in prison and then lived alone in Sorrento.[2]
Later life and death
Maresca died on 29 December 2021, at the age of 86, at her residence in Castellammare di Stabia.[1][9][10]
In popular culture
Pupetta Maresca’s life has been the subject of several films:
- La sfida (The Challenge) (1958), by Francesco Rosi, based on the story of Pascalone and Pupetta Maresca,[11] with Rosanna Schiaffino as Maresca
- Il caso Pupetta Maresca (1982) (TV film), with Alessandra Mussolini as Pupetta Maresca. Maresca did not agree with the film and was able to prevent its broadcast. Only 12 years later, in 1994, the film was screened on Rai Tre.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Script error: No such module "In lang". Morta Pupetta Maresca, la dark lady di camorra aveva 86 anni: una vita tra faide e fiction, Il Mattino, 29 December 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Longrigg, Mafia Women, pp. 1-10
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 La Legge d'Onore, Time Magazine, April 20, 1959
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fiandaca, Women and the Mafia, p. 12
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Pupetta Maresca Archived 30 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Criminology Museum Rome
- ↑ 'Crimes Of Honor' Debated By Italy; Trial of Woman in Naples for Murder of Husband's Rival Stirs Nation, The New York Times, 7 April 1959.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fiandaca, Women and the Mafia, p. 14
- ↑ Script error: No such module "In lang". Il boss Ammaturo confessa: 40 avvisi, Corriere della Sera, May 24, 1994
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Una Donna, la Camorra e Napoli. Reccontati dal cinema e dalla stampa, dissertation, July 2007
- ↑ Script error: No such module "In lang". 'La mia era solo un'inchiesta che non cercava lo scandalo', La Repubblica, June 29, 1994
Sources
- Longrigg, Clare (1998). Mafia Women, London: Vintage ISBN 0-09-959171-5
- Fiandaca, Giovanni (ed.) (2007), Women and the Mafia: Female Roles in Organized Crime Structures, New York: Springer ISBN 0-387-36537-0
External links
- Script error: No such module "In lang". "Pascalone 'e Nola"
- Script error: No such module "In lang". Pupetta 50 anni dopo svende tutto a 10 euro, La Repubblica, August 2, 2005
- Script error: No such module "In lang". Die Artischocken-Diktatur, Der Spiegel, May 27, 1959
