Godmothers: Italy sees rise of women in Neapolitan crime

Source: USA Today

Move over, Don Corleone. Godmothers are rising in the ranks of the Camorra, the Naples' area crime syndicate, say law enforcement officials and crime experts.

Women have long played a strong role in Camorra crime families, muscling, sometimes murdering, their way to the top. Their influence stretches back as far as the 1950s when a pregnant former beauty queen dubbed "pupetta" (little doll) shot dead the man who had ordered a hit on her husband, and allegedly settled into a life of crime.

Now, as the state steps up its war against the Camorra, rounding up scores of suspected mobsters, the women are increasingly taking over the helm from their men, experts say.

"There is a growing number of women who hold executive roles" in the Camorra, Gen. Gaetano Maruccia, commander of the Carabinieri paramilitary police in the Naples area, told The Associated Press.

"They are either widows (of mob bosses) or wives of husbands who have been put in prison. They hold the reins."

Mothers, daughters, sisters and sisters-in-law are "assuming ever-more leading roles," Stefania Castaldi, a Naples-based prosecutor who investigates organized crime, said in an interview.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-08-23-godmothers_N.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno

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Also, PM Martin, your stereotyped italianate patter is tired and boring. Do all Canadians drink copious amounts of crap beer and end all spoken sentences with "Eh"?

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These women have decided that breaking the glass ceiling isn't flashy enough. They're going to shoot it with Tommy guns.

Her nickname was Ma Barker.

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hint: hide your purse when stopped in traffic..learned the hard way