Enrico Alfano

Enrico Alfano
Camorra boss Enrico Alfano at the Cuocolo trial in Viterbo in 1911
Born	1869 (1869) or 1870 (1870) Naples, Italy
Died	Unknown Unknown
Other names	Erricone
Known for	Head of the Camorra
Criminal charge	Murder of rival Camorra boss Gennaro Cuocolo and his wife
Criminal penalty	30 years in prison
Allegiance	Camorra

Enrico Alfano (born 1869 or 1870; date of death unknown), 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. He was described as "a kind of president of the confederation." According to some sources, Alfano was the man behind the murder of New York City police sergeant Joseph Petrosino in Palermo in 1909. However, the murder has since been attributed to the Sicilian Mafia, and to Vito Cascioferro in particular.

Alfano was accused of being the man behind the murder of rival Camorra boss Gennaro Cuocolo and his wife. 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. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in July 1912, and despite the fact that the legitimacy of the trial was seriously questioned when the main witness for the prosecution retracted, he was only released in 1934 after having served 27 years.

The son of a shoemaker, Alfano began as a fruit merchant in Naples and speculating on the cattle fairs. He apparently became affiliated with the Camorra at an early age, but this is not certain because he was not mentioned in a 1901 investigation report by the Ministry of Interior – known as the Saredo Inquiry since it was led by senator Giuseppe Saredo () – which unearthed an extensive political patronage system in the city of Naples. However, the inquiry revealed little about the inner workings of the Camorra. 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, although other sources disagree over his rise to power.

According to a 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).The New York Times reported that he was arrested many times as an accomplice in homicide, robbery and less important charges, but had never been convicted. According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Alfano did spent 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.