Italian TV special revives controversy over mobster's funeral
September 10, 2015
Rome’s Mayor Ignazio Marino has decried a television special that focused on the family of a deceased leader in organized crime, reviving a controversy that was roused by the mobster’s lavish funeral in August.
The RAI-TV broadcast, focused on the family of the late Vittorio Casamonica, prompted Marino to call for an investigation into RAI. The program, he said, was “not acceptable as a public service.”
During the program, Vera Casamonica, the daughter of the deceased, denied that her father was involved in criminal activities, and said that he had been popular “because he was so good, like Pope Francis.”
Casamonica’s funeral was a spectacular affair, in which a helicopter dropped rose petals, while a large poster of the mobster’s face was suspended across the front of the church. Bishop Giuseppe Marciante, an auxiliary of the Rome diocese, said that the parish had been caught off guard. “We absolutely would not have accepted” the displays, he said.
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Further information:
- Furore over RAI platform for Casamonica family (ANSA)
- Controversy over lavish Mafia funeral at Roman parish (CWN< 8/25)
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