Deadly rise of ‘Bloody Mary’ Mafia boss who inspired Gomorrah TV series after ‘slaughtering 100 victims’

A FEMALE Italian mob boss nicknamed ‘Bloody Mary’ for her brutal reign inspired a character on the Gomorrah TV series and is accused of slaughtering 100 victims.

Maria Licciardi, 70, is said to be 'The God Mother' of Secondigliano Alliance, a cartel of Camorra clans that controls drug trafficking, counterfeiting luxury brands and extortion in much of Naples.

The mobster, who previously told cops she was "just a housewife", had been on the run for years but her luck finally ran out after being arrested at Rome airport last weekend.

The crime boss - also known as The Monkey - inherited the role from her brother Gennaro when he died in prison.

However, despite her nickname 'The Little One' she has been more than a match for any male rival.

Licciardi was one of the victors in a long-running blood feud between clans that left Naples littered nearly daily with corpses earlier this century, prosecutors say.

According to a Camorra boss turned prosecution witness Luigi Misso Licciardi responsible for more than 100 murders.

He said she is “much more dangerous” than the reputed head of the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian branch of the Mafia.

GODMOTHER

Licciardi was first arrested 2001 after she was stopped driving a car near Naples and at that time was among Italy’s top 30 wanted fugitives.

After being released from prison in December 2009 and since then has taken over the management of her clan’s business.

In true Mafia style, she has protested her innocence insisting she is little more than a humble housewife.

“I am a housewife but I have always worked. I have been a shoemaker,” told magistrates in 2003.

“I hate drugs and if I see young people taking drugs it makes me feel desperate.”

HUMBLE HOUSEWIFE?

But Naples prosecutors described Licciardi as a true “madrina” – godmother - in the Camorra syndicate. 

Extortion of local business owners, drug trafficking and the infiltration of public works contracts are traditional sources of illicit revenue for the Camorra, one of Italy’s major crime syndicates.

Licciardi inspired the character of Scianel in the television series Gomorrah and is renowned for her vigilance.

Video released by police teken a few months ago that shows her running from home in her pyjamas after getting a false alert at night that she was about to be arrested.

The law finally caught up with her at Rome’s Ciampino airport as she checked in luggage for a flight to Spain to see her daughter.

She reportedly didn’t bat an eyelash when officers from paramilitary Carabinieri’s special operations unit blocked her and served the warrant signed by the Naples prosecutors’ office.

"Carabinieri? Just as well,” she told the cops sent to arrest her.