The rumor spread quietly, behind closed shutters. “Sandokan” will speak. In Casal di Principe, a town of 20,000 inhabitants in rural Campania, we do not know whether to thank heaven for this unexpected news or to pray to prevent it from announcing the return of great misfortunes. From his cell, where he has been locked up for twenty-four years and five months in the strictest isolation, Francesco Schiavone, known as “Sandokan” (nickname due to the bearded pirate hero of a popular television series from the 1970s), decided, at the end of March, to become a repentant. At 70 years old, the godfather of the clan who put the city under his control would be ready to reveal the last secrets of his crimes in exchange for a new life under the protection of the police – his lifelong enemies.
The one also called “the Tiger” had nevertheless made his silence a barrier to investigations. He had confirmed his status as an uncompromising leader, guarantor of the codes of a criminal society having infiltrated everything that this agricultural territory adjoining the northern suburbs of Naples could offer in terms of wealth. Waste processing, real estate, mozzarella production: “Sandokan” transformed the Camorra of Casal di Principe into a powerful entrepreneurial mafia, recycling its profits well beyond Campania, at the cost of a balance of terror between alliances of interests and targeted massacres.
Since March, the old bearded man has been confessing to a magistrate from the Naples anti-mafia prosecutor’s office several times a week. The deal is simple: if he details, without beating around the bush, the shadowy areas of the Casalesi’s power – their untraceable treasures, the names of compromised businessmen and politicians, etc. – he will be able to avoid ending his life under the merciless prison regime of “41 bis”, reserved for mafiosi and terrorists. But, by doing so, he is forever cracking his statue as a charismatic leader and at the same time pulverizing his criminal legacy, shared among his five male descendants, Carmine, Walter, Nicola, Ivanhoe and Emanuele Libero.
Among those who know his clan best, doubt remains: by waving the white flag, is this slick warlord and negotiator not, here again, making a strategic move? One of his toughest opponents, the outgoing mayor of Casal di Principe, Renato Natale, 73, does not hide the fact that he himself was surprised when he heard the news. “It’s a decision to take with a grain of salt. If what he says is real and concrete, then we can rejoice, but, beyond what he says, the important thing is that “the Tiger” has let go., analyzes this little man sitting in the office with white walls that he occupies for a few more days before handing over after the municipal elections concluded this Monday, June 24 at 3 p.m. “We are in a situation of uncertainty, continues the councilor. I remember how these bosses were born: they were first petty criminals. So, given the historical context, each small group today in the creation phase can be very dangerous. »
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