Late mobster's daughter launches 'Uncle Totò' online shop
The daughter and son-in-law of the late mafia boss Totò Riina have launched an online shop selling wares under the brand name ‘Uncle Totò’.
By way of celebrating the mobster, who died last month aged 87, while making some money, Maria Concetta Riina and husband Antonino Ciavarello’s website (Zu Totò) will at first sell coffee capsules before expanding to olive oil.
But the coffee isn’t available just yet, with the couple aiming to collect orders before establishing a bonafide business.
“We want to sell some ‘Zu Totò brand products,” the couple wrote on the website.
“We’re starting with coffee capsules, we’re doing this presale so we can collect orders and cash to get us going, seeing as they seized everything from us without reason.”
The latter part of the message refers to Ciavarello’s car parts business, which was confiscated by police last summer amid suspicion it was used to launder some of Riina’s money. The 44-year-old was placed under house arrest on Friday for fraud.
The online shop comes a month or so after Ciavarello sought to raise money via social media, saying the loss of his business had left him in a “disastrous situation”.
The couple went on to say: "Thanks in anticipation for your faith, we are expecting large orders from you and then, in the time it takes to set up a firm, we will send you what you ordered.”
Riina, one of the most feared godfathers in the history of the Sicilian mafia, died on November 17th after battling cancer.
He had been serving 26 life sentences and is thought to have ordered more than 150 murders.
Nicknamed "The Beast" because of his cruelty, Riina led a reign of terror for decades after taking control of Sicily's powerful organised crime group Cosa Nostra in the 1970s.
The most high-profile murders he ordered were those in 1992 of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who had worked fearlessly to bring more than 300 mobsters to trial in 1987.
Riina was buried in his hometown of Corleone, near Palermo, on November 22nd.
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By way of celebrating the mobster, who died last month aged 87, while making some money, Maria Concetta Riina and husband Antonino Ciavarello’s website (Zu Totò) will at first sell coffee capsules before expanding to olive oil.
But the coffee isn’t available just yet, with the couple aiming to collect orders before establishing a bonafide business.
“We want to sell some ‘Zu Totò brand products,” the couple wrote on the website.
“We’re starting with coffee capsules, we’re doing this presale so we can collect orders and cash to get us going, seeing as they seized everything from us without reason.”
The latter part of the message refers to Ciavarello’s car parts business, which was confiscated by police last summer amid suspicion it was used to launder some of Riina’s money. The 44-year-old was placed under house arrest on Friday for fraud.
The online shop comes a month or so after Ciavarello sought to raise money via social media, saying the loss of his business had left him in a “disastrous situation”.
The couple went on to say: "Thanks in anticipation for your faith, we are expecting large orders from you and then, in the time it takes to set up a firm, we will send you what you ordered.”
Riina, one of the most feared godfathers in the history of the Sicilian mafia, died on November 17th after battling cancer.
He had been serving 26 life sentences and is thought to have ordered more than 150 murders.
Nicknamed "The Beast" because of his cruelty, Riina led a reign of terror for decades after taking control of Sicily's powerful organised crime group Cosa Nostra in the 1970s.
The most high-profile murders he ordered were those in 1992 of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who had worked fearlessly to bring more than 300 mobsters to trial in 1987.
Riina was buried in his hometown of Corleone, near Palermo, on November 22nd.
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