Pasquale Simonetti worked in the fruit and vegetable market in Naples and dealt in smuggled goods. On April 27 1955, he married into Mafia royalty.

The pretty but hopelessly spoiled girl he married was Assunta Maresca, she was called Pupetta, was the daughter of Alberto Maresca a smuggler. Her uncle was Vincenzo Maresca was a known Camorrista who controlled their hometown.

The Maresca family was known as the "Lightning Knives" for their expert use of switchblades, were smugglers who controlled contraband cigarettes.

On July 16, 1955, only

Four months after they married, a rival Camorrista group run by Antonio Esposito gunned down Simonetti in a central square of Naples.

By then, Maresca was pregnant, but she wanted revenge. On August 4, 1955, she drove to Naples and met with Antonio Esposito and, in broad daylight, shot with a Smith and Wessen, stopping to reload, she fired 29 bullets into him.

The police arrested her two months later on October 15, 1955. At her trial she told the court "I would do it again!" which made the entire court room burst into cheers for her.

She was sentenced to 18 years in prison.  She gave birth to her child in prison. She was pardoned in 1965. Once released she became the loved of the drug baron Umberto Ammaturo.

In 1974, her son Pasquale, then 18, the child born in prison was kidnapped and murdered. Maresca was convinced her husband had ordered the murder because he and  Pasquale despised each other.

She left him in 1982 but stayed within Camorra.  When war broke out between Camorra fractions, she held a press conference to defend her men, explaining to the world that her rival, a man named Raffaele Cutolo had imposed a tax on every case of smuggled cigarettes.

Maresca and Ammaturo were arrested and charged with extortion as well as the murder of forensic scientist Aldo Semerari. Ammaturo, who was initially acquitted, later confessed to the murder. Maresca served four years in prison and then lived alone in Sorrento. She died on December 29, 2021 at her home.

Photos one and two, Maresca

Photo three, Pasquale Simonetti

Photo four Pasquale Simonetti and his murderer. Antonio Esposito