Cuocolo Trial

Cuocolo Trial (1911-1912)
Carlo Fabbroni (left) at the trial in Viterbo
CourtCourt of Assizes in Viterbo
DecidedJuly 8, 1912; 112 years ago (1912-07-08) (verdict)
VerdictThe 47 defendants of the Neapolitan Camorra were sentenced to a total of 354 years' imprisonment

The Cuocolo Trial was a trial against the Camorra, a Mafia-type organisation in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. The court hearing began in Viterbo on 11 March 1911 and the verdict was delivered on 8 July 1912. The trial was ostensibly to prosecute those charged with the murder of the Camorra boss Gennaro Cuocolo and his wife in 1906. The main investigator, Carabinieri Captain Carlo Fabbroni, transformed the trial into one against the Camorra as a whole, intending to use it to strike the final blow to the criminal organisation.[1][2]

After 17 months, the proceedings ended with a guilty verdict on 8 July 1912 against the 47 defendants that included 27 leading Camorra associates. They were sentenced to a total of 354 years' imprisonment. Enrico Alfano, the main defendant and alleged head of the Camorra, was sentenced to 30 years.[1][3][4][5][6] The often tumultuous and spectacular trial attracted a lot of attention of newspapers and the general public both in Italy as well as in the United States, including by Pathé's Gazette.[7] In 1927, the main incriminating witness retracted his version of the facts, but Italy's dictatorial Prime Minister Benito Mussolini did not authorise the revision of the trial.

  1. ^ a b The Cuocolo trial: the Camorra in the dock, Museo criminologico (Retrieved 25 May 2011)
  2. ^ Cuocolo Trial May Be Death Blow of the Camorra; Italian Government Hopes That the Great Murder Case at Viterbo Will End in the Extermination of the Powerful Criminal Organization, by Walter Littlefield, The New York Times, March 5, 1911, M section, p. 4
  3. ^ Behan 2005, p. 23.
  4. ^ Iermano 2009.
  5. ^ Camorrist Leaders Get 30-Year Terms, The New York Times, 9 July 1912
  6. ^ "Camorra Verdict; All Found Guilty", New York Tribune, 9 July 1912
  7. ^ Dickie 2012, p. 251.