Italian pop singers who glorify mafia face three years in prison

Telegraph

2 days ago

Neomelodic singers are known to perform at the weddings and baptisms of mafia families and some are alleged to have received mafia money to launch their careers.
Performers who extol the virtues of a life of crime and gun violence will face prosecution under the legislation, which is being pushed by Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and the leader of the hard-Right League party.
He announced the initiative alongside Daniela Di Maggio, a woman whose 23-year-old son, a symphony orchestra musician, was shot dead by a young mafia gangster in Naples in 2023. Since her son's death, Ms Di Maggio, a therapist and counsellor, has become an anti-mafia campaigner.
The proposed law targets anyone, including artists, writers and musicians, who glamorise the criminal underworld 'in whatever form of expression'. The legislation is aimed at neomelodic songs that 'exalt' a life of crime and 'tell young people to go out and buy firearms so that they can feel safe,' said Gianluca Cantalamessa, an MP with the League who comes from Naples.
The definition is so broad that it could also target popular television shows such as Gomorra, a fictionalised portrayal of the Camorra mafia, which is broadcast in the UK.
'There are no positive models in Gomorra, unlike when we were kids when there were goodies and baddies on television and children could choose between the two,' said Mr Cantalamessa.
Last year, more than 44,000 crimes were committed by minors in Italy, who are particularly susceptible to the influence of songs and TV shows that romanticise organised crime, he said.
An 'extravagantly kitsch' wedding
The links between music and the mafia were vividly illustrated in 2019 when a popular neomelodic singer called Tony Colombo married Tina Rispoli, the widow of a mafia boss who was shot dead on a beach in the town of Terracina, north of Naples, a few years before.
The extravagantly kitsch wedding involved four white horses pulling a pumpkin-shaped white carriage through the streets of Naples, while musicians in cream suits played trumpets and jugglers performed with acrobats.
In 2023, the couple were amongst 27 people that were arrested during police raids on one of the clans that make up the Camorra.
Prosecutors accused them of investing £433,393 in the clan and backing a fashion line called 'Corleone', which was named after the town in Sicily which is synonymous with the island's Cosa Nostra mafia. They were also allegedly involved in launching a high-energy drink called ''9mm', which came in a bottle shaped like a bullet.
The couple denied all the accusations. They were acquitted of the charges in March this year.
However many of the other defendants were found guilty, including the brother of Ms Rispoli, who was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison.