Widow who slayed husband’s killer in Mafia feud dies at 86

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italian news media say that the widow of a Naples organized crime boss who was convicted of gunning down her husband’s presumed killer for revenge has died. She was 86. Italian state TV and the La Presse news agency said Assunta “Pupetta” Maresca died Thursday in her home in the Naples suburb of Castellammare di Stabia. She was known as  “Lady Camorra.” That’s a reference to the powerful Naples-area crime syndicate. Maresca was six months’ pregnant when she carried out the slaying during a bloody turf war among crime clan bosses. She gave birth in jail and served 10 years in prison. Female leaders are rare in the Sicilian Mafia. But women in the Camorra have held top roles.