‘King of Rome’ given Godfather funeral

Casamonica was a outstanding member of a clan that has been accused of drug-running, racketeering, extortion and usury in Rome.

The head of a notorious Rome crime family was given a lavish funeral on Thursday, with a helicopter dropping red rose petals on mourners and a brass band playing the theme tune from the Godfather movie.

A poster on the gates of the church proclaimed: “You have conquered Rome, now conquer paradise”.

The 65-year-old, who has been identified by police as a leader of the Casamonica clan – active in the southwest of Rome – was taken to the church in a gilded, horse-drawn carriage.

Italy’s civil aviation authority on Friday suspended the licence of the helicopter pilot who flew low over Rome to drop flower petals during the funeral. It said the helicopter flew below the 330-metre limit and violated regulations by tossing out objects.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano asked for a report from city officials to see whether the “funeral show”, as it was dubbed by Italian media, had broken any laws.

Mayor Ignazio Marino demanded to know the facts and said it was “intolerable” that a funeral be exploited for mob glorification.

After Marino’s criticism, Rome prefect Franco Gabrielli said the funeral “never should have taken place” and blamed the oversight on too many local officials taking August vacations.

The Rev. Giancarlo Manieri said he had no idea what was going on outside the church, that he did his job by celebrating a sober funeral of a practicing Catholic, and that he received no prohibition from doing so from his superiors.

The funeral came just a day after a judge set November 5 as the start date for the trial of some 59 people charged in a spiraling mafia investigation in the capital, in which local criminal bosses allegedly managed to cement ties with city politicians over lucrative public contracts. “Ostentatious luxury, horses decorated in black, a carriage with golden decoration that probably not even Queen Elizabeth could afford”, resident Walter Grubissa said Friday.

STRINGER/ITALY/REUTERS The parish priest said he had no control over what happened outside the church, but the funeral proceeded normally once everyone was inside.

The event has gone down particularly badly because in 2006 the same church refused a funeral to a terminally ill poet, Piergiorgio Welby, who was helped to die by one of his doctors in a case that divided Italy.