Notorious Camorra mafia boss once considered one of Europe's richest and cruellest criminals and one of the inspirations for Gomorrah TV show turns supergrass 26 years after he was jailed in landmark trial

One of Italy's most notorious mafia bosses, Francesco 'Sandokan' Schiavone, has turned state's witness after 26 years behind bars. 

Schiavone, who led a Camorra mafia clan in Casal di Principe near Naples, operating out of the southern city of Caserta, was once considered one of Europe's richest and cruellest criminals.

He was arrested in a secret apartment in his hometown that was hidden by a sliding granite block while evading authorities in 1998, five years after he managed to escape from the clutches of the law and avoid surveillance and detection. 

Schiavone has been serving several life sentences, including for multiple murders, after being convicted in the landmark 'Spartacus' mega-trial against 36 fellow clan members. He was also convicted on charges of arms trafficking, bomb attacks, and armed robbery. 

The sprawling trial saw dozens go to prison, including 16 ringleaders, as well as two female NATO officers who were having affairs with Schiavone, and supplied him with tools and weapons. 

Following the trial, which took Italian prosecutors five years to put together, and spanned mafia activity from between 1988 to 1996, he was convicted in 2005, with his final appeal being dismissed in 2010.

Mafia boss Francesco 'Sandokan' Schiavone (pictured) has turned state's witness after 26 years behind bars

Schiavone was once considered one of Europe's richest and cruellest criminals

Schiavone's life was the inspiration behind hit mafia TV show Gomorrah 

Chiara Colosimo, the head of parliament's anti-mafia commission, hailed his decision to cooperate with authorities as 'another hard blow against the Camorra and organised crime'.

Schiavone and his crew were involved in brutal score-settling between clans fighting for control of Casal di Principe in the 1980s and 90s, as well as peddling illegal drugs, which became immensely profitable for him. 

Schiavone was also involved in businesses across Italy and the world. 

His clan controlled shipping ports in Italy, clothing stores in Germany, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland and Serbia where they would sell countless knock-off items of designer clothing for full price. 

Their shoddy clothes would even make their way to the malls of New York and Chicago.

At one point, Schiavone's family was estimated to be worth an eyewatering $47billion. 

Their cruelty and economic and political power were exposed in Robert Saviano's best-selling book, 'Gomorrah', later made into a film and TV series. Saviano was forced into hiding and is still under police protection.

In an Instagram post on Friday, Saviano said he would wait and see what kind of information the mobster would provide before hailing his decision to turn.

'Will he be able to do it without revealing where the Camorra's money is and without demonstrating real political and business connections?' Saviano wrote.

Several of the mobster's family have already collaborated.

His cousin, Carmine Schiavone, turned state's witness in 1993, revealing notably how the mafia dumped toxic waste in fields, wells and lakes - activities blamed for a spike in cancers in the local population.

His son Nicola (pictured) was arrested in 2010, and became an informant in 2018

Walter (pictured), the mafia boss' son, became an informant in 2021

At one point, Schiavone's family was estimated to be worth an eyewatering $47billion

Two of his sons, Nicola, thought to have succeeded him, before being arrested in 2010, and Walter, turned 'pentito' in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

Schiavone had been recently transferred from prison in northern Italy to a facility in L'Aquila, where Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was cared for before his death last year.

Schiavone was said to be ill, but some media reports Friday suggested the rumours were a ruse to disguise a transfer in fact driven by his collaboration.

Schiavone was called 'Sandokan' for his apparent resemblance to the actor who played the pirate hero of that name in a popular 1970s TV series. 

After finishing a three-year sentence in 1993, he managed to disappear before judges could put him under surveillance. 

For five years, he was on the run, eventually being caught in his hometown near Naples. 

He had been living in a secret apartment at his family villa near Naples that was only accessible through a sliding granite wall. 

So brazen was the mafia big man that he managed to father two children with his wife while on the run, despite police keeping a close eye on her every move. 

But after getting caught, his power and influence fell massively. 

He was once forced to write to Italy's president begging for mercy at the Spartacus trial, and at one point tried to claim insanity by saying he would see ghosts and spirits in his cell in the run-up to the trial.  

Experts told MailOnline earlier this year that the influence of the mafia was waning year by year, with Laura Garavini, a former Italian senator who spent several years of her career on the government's anti-mafia committee, telling MailOnline 'it is possible' to have a mafia-free Italy within the next 30 years.