What do you think?
Mafia Women
The traditional role of women in the Cosa Nostra, both in Italy and the USA, ranges from "trophy wives" to drug runners. But this account shows that women are also taking a leading role and sometimes even turning informer, to win freedom from violent marriages and to give their children a future.
- GenresNonfictionCrimeItaly
Paperback
First published July 2, 1998
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 25, 2015
I need to read about some badass woman, now! No Mary Sues, no unrealistic fantasy about woman assassins. I want to read about real drama, blood and tears. Real stories about mafia woman.
GIIF from an amazing movie "The Godfather" directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
December 1, 2008
An indepth, based-on-interviews with the sources, social commentary on the perceived vs true nature of Family Crime Organizations in southern Italy, and the legal system's slow evolution in adjusting to the chain of power. (Not just about the Sicilian Mafia.) Whereas Clare is a journalist not a novelist, this book can't come near Peter Robb's Midnight in Sicily; however, without it, I couldn't have researched and written my Camorra tale with authenticity - mainly the truth about the women's role to either challenge, expose or exploit the criminal system to their own ends.
September 13, 2023
one of the recent main books for information about Rosetta Cutolo
Rosetta Cutolo (1 January 1937) is the sister of the Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo, the head of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO), an organisation he built to renew the Camorra.
As her brother spent most of his time behind bars from where he sent out his instructions, the everyday running of the enterprise was entrusted to his older sister, Rosetta.
Her nickname was Uocchie 'e gghiaccio, meaning "ice eyes".
Background
Rosetta, a grey-haired, pious-looking woman, lived alone for years with her mother in Ottaviano, near Naples, tending her roses.[2] She was the power behind her brother for over 15 years, passing on his orders from jail and cultivating his devoted followers outside. Without her the NCO would have collapsed, according to a resident from Ottaviano.
While her megalomaniacal brother created scandal by giving interviews and making speeches in the courtroom, Rosetta kept a low profile. She had a love-hate relationship with her brother.
According to their lawyer Paolo Trofino, they had a stormy relationship: "They often have rows. She thinks he talks too much. She wishes he wouldn’t give interviews."
She ruled in the headquarters of the NCO: the Castle Mediceo, a vast 16th-century palace with 365 rooms and a large park with tennis courts and swimming pool. The castle was bought for several billion lire at the time and provided direct contact for Cutolo from the prisons of Poggioreale and Ascoli Piceno.
Fugitive
Brilliant with figures, Rosetta Cutolo negotiated with South American cocaine barons, narrowly failed to blow up police headquarters and was glamourised in a film, Il camorrista.
She participated in a high-level meeting with representatives of the Sicilian Mafia and Camorra clans to try to put an end to the bloody war between the NCO and their rivals from the Nuova Famiglia, together with Cutolo's right-hand man Vincenzo Casillo.
In October 1981, police raided her stronghold while she was presiding over a meeting of the NCO. Cutolo escaped under a rug in a car driven past checkpoints by the neighbourhood priest.
She was not seen in public thereafter for over 10 years, and directed operations from a series of safe houses in different cities.
Arrest
In February 1993, she gave herself up after police found her hide out. Cutolo appeared at the entrance, saying "I am tired of being a fugitive".
She had been sentenced in absentia in 1990 to nine years in prison on charges of Mafia association, later reduced to five years. Prosecutors alleged she had been running her brother's organisation.
She was acquitted on nine murder charges. Rosetta had persuaded the authorities she was harmless, and her frumpy image definitely helped.
Her brother Raffaele Cutolo has always maintained that Rosetta knew nothing of his criminal activities and did only what he asked: "Rosetta has never been a Camorrista... She only listened to me and sent me a few suitcases of money to prisoners like I told her to".
Role in NCO
Many important members did not believe that she held an important role because she was a woman. For instance, former NCO lieutenant and pentito Pasquale Barra argued: "What has Rosa Cutolo got to do with it? What have woman got to do with the Camorra?".
However, according to prosecutor Antonio Laudati, who questioned Cutolo many times, his sister was the true force behind the NCO:
"Her brother has always been under the power of her forceful personality. He's been in prison for 30 years; during that time she became director of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata in her own right."
Rosetta Cutolo (1 January 1937) is the sister of the Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo, the head of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO), an organisation he built to renew the Camorra.
As her brother spent most of his time behind bars from where he sent out his instructions, the everyday running of the enterprise was entrusted to his older sister, Rosetta.
Her nickname was Uocchie 'e gghiaccio, meaning "ice eyes".
Background
Rosetta, a grey-haired, pious-looking woman, lived alone for years with her mother in Ottaviano, near Naples, tending her roses.[2] She was the power behind her brother for over 15 years, passing on his orders from jail and cultivating his devoted followers outside. Without her the NCO would have collapsed, according to a resident from Ottaviano.
While her megalomaniacal brother created scandal by giving interviews and making speeches in the courtroom, Rosetta kept a low profile. She had a love-hate relationship with her brother.
According to their lawyer Paolo Trofino, they had a stormy relationship: "They often have rows. She thinks he talks too much. She wishes he wouldn’t give interviews."
She ruled in the headquarters of the NCO: the Castle Mediceo, a vast 16th-century palace with 365 rooms and a large park with tennis courts and swimming pool. The castle was bought for several billion lire at the time and provided direct contact for Cutolo from the prisons of Poggioreale and Ascoli Piceno.
Fugitive
Brilliant with figures, Rosetta Cutolo negotiated with South American cocaine barons, narrowly failed to blow up police headquarters and was glamourised in a film, Il camorrista.
She participated in a high-level meeting with representatives of the Sicilian Mafia and Camorra clans to try to put an end to the bloody war between the NCO and their rivals from the Nuova Famiglia, together with Cutolo's right-hand man Vincenzo Casillo.
In October 1981, police raided her stronghold while she was presiding over a meeting of the NCO. Cutolo escaped under a rug in a car driven past checkpoints by the neighbourhood priest.
She was not seen in public thereafter for over 10 years, and directed operations from a series of safe houses in different cities.
Arrest
In February 1993, she gave herself up after police found her hide out. Cutolo appeared at the entrance, saying "I am tired of being a fugitive".
She had been sentenced in absentia in 1990 to nine years in prison on charges of Mafia association, later reduced to five years. Prosecutors alleged she had been running her brother's organisation.
She was acquitted on nine murder charges. Rosetta had persuaded the authorities she was harmless, and her frumpy image definitely helped.
Her brother Raffaele Cutolo has always maintained that Rosetta knew nothing of his criminal activities and did only what he asked: "Rosetta has never been a Camorrista... She only listened to me and sent me a few suitcases of money to prisoners like I told her to".
Role in NCO
Many important members did not believe that she held an important role because she was a woman. For instance, former NCO lieutenant and pentito Pasquale Barra argued: "What has Rosa Cutolo got to do with it? What have woman got to do with the Camorra?".
However, according to prosecutor Antonio Laudati, who questioned Cutolo many times, his sister was the true force behind the NCO:
"Her brother has always been under the power of her forceful personality. He's been in prison for 30 years; during that time she became director of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata in her own right."
July 24, 2011
Now more than 10 years old, this book was still an interesting exploration of the role of women in the Italian mafia both in Italy (mostly) and the United States (a little). People think of the mafia as a boys' club, an image promoted by the organisation and reinforced by popular entertainment, but the wives, girlfriends, and children often play very active, even pivotal roles. When husbands are doing time, they may even take over temporarily. Some women feel that being with a gangster is exciting, others enjoy the spoils, still others are pressured into it as marriages are arranged between families so they help rather than kill each other. The conclusion is that the mafia could not function without its female advocates; if Italian society really wants an end to the rule of the mafia, it's the women who could actually bring that about. Never really shocking - because we know so much about it these days - but still quite a fascinating read about the other side of the mafia coin.
May 29, 2016
I have read a newer edition (2011) with an updated foreword. This book depicts so well the cruel and misogynistic culture in the mafia and in south-italy, and what kind of women are bred from this kind of systematic violence and brainwashing. How some will rise against it, some be swept into it and contribute in either as bosses or as humble servants, and most of them crushed by it.
The book is based on several interviews, all the stories are deeply personal. Clare Longrigg also touches on why it's hard to defeat a criminal syndicate that is deeply ingrained in the roots of which the country is built on, it's not just crime and extortion, it's culture and identity, it's life. After this book I'm very interested in reading Longrigg's other books on this topic.
The book is based on several interviews, all the stories are deeply personal. Clare Longrigg also touches on why it's hard to defeat a criminal syndicate that is deeply ingrained in the roots of which the country is built on, it's not just crime and extortion, it's culture and identity, it's life. After this book I'm very interested in reading Longrigg's other books on this topic.
December 18, 2012
Like Elle, I read this book as part of my research for stories that I wanted to write about women and acts of criminality. Besides bing useful to me, however, I found it an enjoyable and interesting read. I am sure that I will come back to it for more material.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews