Enrico Alfano (Italian pronunciation: [enˈriːko alˈfaːno]; 1869 or 1870 – 10 January 1940), also known as "Erricone", was considered to be one of the chiefs of the Camorra, a Mafia-type organisation in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy, at the turn of the 20th century.

The trial against Alfano and his associates in Viterbo in 1911–12, expanded from a murder case into a tribunal against the Camorra and attracted a lot of attention of newspapers and the general public both in Italy as well as in the United States.

[6] According to an informer, Alfano had become the head of the Camorra after the death of the legendary capintesta (head-in-chief) Ciccio Cappuccio in 1892,[7] although other sources disagree over his rise to power.

According to The New York Times report on the Cuocolo trial in 1911, Alfano was below medium height but a man of commanding presence; across his cheek he bore a long scar, the sfregio (a knife slash for dishonour; a sign of Camorra punishment).

[6] According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Alfano did spend six or seven years in prison, where he earned his initiation as a camorrista, which gave him the "right" to demand a tangente, protection money, from the merchants in the neighbourhood he controlled.

[8][9] Other sources mention that after the death of Cappuccio, Giuseppe Chirico, 'o Granatiere (The Grenadier), from the Porta San Gennaro neighbourhood was elected.

Although the conclave of the twelve district heads had decided in favour of Chirico, another popular leader, Totonno 'o Pappagallo, with many followers, contested the election.

[8]Although elected head of the Camorra, due to his reluctance to accept the challenges coming from all sides, and all the inevitable quarrels that so abundantly flourished in the meetings of the bosses, he did not keep the position.

[8] While Fucci was the nominal head, Alfano apparently remained the operational leader and was described as "a kind of president of the confederation.

[15] From the traditional ranks of criminals, a new brand of sophisticated camorristi evolved: the 'elegant camorra' or 'camorra in straw-yellow gloves' (in guanti gialli) that moved among the affluent strata of Neapolitan society and provided them the means to enjoy their vices; at a cost.

[16][17] These 'gentlemen mobsters' mingled with the bourgeoisie in the Galleria Umberto I, a prestigious new arcade built as part of the reconstruction programme following the cholera epidemic of 1884, where Alfano had his informal headquarters at the Caffe Fortunio.

[16][18] In 1902, the famous French vaudeville singer and dancer, and the vedette of the Folies Bergère, Eugénie Fougère, who was performing at the Salone Margherita a café-chantant in Naples, contacted Alfano to get back her stolen jewelry.

Together with his right-hand men, the priest Ciro Vitozzi and his associate Giovanni Rapi, Alfano was said to be the man behind the election in 1904 of the Count Vincenzo Ravaschieri Foschi to parliament to the detriment of the incumbent socialist deputy Ettore Ciccotti.

[19][20][21][22] The night before the election dissident voters were intimidated, assaulted, beaten, and sustained knife injuries by ruffians hired and encouraged by both the Camorra and the police, since the authorities equally disapproved of a socialist candidate.

[3][23] Alfano, Rapi and Vitozzi were seen and photographed while actively directing the vote in favour of Count Ravaschieri in the Camorra controlled district of Vicaria in which Ciccotti surprisingly had won in 1900.

However, the investigation did not produce evidence and the suspects were released from jail 50 days later, not in the least thanks to the intervention of the priest Ciro Vitozzi, the "guardian angel" of the Camorra and Erricone's god-father.

The investigation got new momentum when Gennaro Abbatemaggio, a young camorrista and a former Carabinieri informer serving a jail sentence in Naples, testified that the decision to kill Cuocolo, suspected of being a police spy, had been taken at a meeting at the restaurant chaired by Alfano.

[32][33][34] Petrosino received anonymous letters from Neapolitans in New York that confirmed Alfano's presence in the city, where he allegedly had given a banquet to several local Camorra members in a Grand Street restaurant.

[36] According to some sources, Alfano was linked to the lieutenant Petrosino's murder in Palermo on 12 March 1909,[6] which has since been attributed to the Sicilian Mafia, and to Vito Cascio Ferro in particular.

[25] The often uproarious and spectacular Cuocolo 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.

Another defendant, Gennaro De Marinis, who was sentenced to 30 years as well, slashed his throat with a piece of glass in the Court when the verdict was delivered.

As The New York Times reported: "The convicts did all in their power to see the great criminal and pay him a kind of court, putting themselves at his disposition as subjects would to a sovereign.

"[52] In 1930, a request for pardon was made by the Neapolitan newspaper Il Mattino, which at the time of the trial had strongly supported the work of the police.