Ladies of the Mob.(women take prominent roles in mafia, Italy)(Brief Article)

It began as an argument at a beauty parlor in the mountainous village of Lauro, 40 miles northeast of Naples. It ended in one of the most astonishing episodes of mafia violence in years. Yet the striking thing about the shoot-out was not the body count--three dead and five wounded--but the bodies themselves. All were women.

Chalk up a macabre victory for equal rights in the mob. Not so long ago, the most illegal deed a mafia mama might imagine would be to smuggle sperm from jailed papas to sire mafiosi bambini at home. Nowadays they're climbing the gangland ladder, in some cases all the way to the top.

Take the recent shoot-out. It allegedly started when 16-year-old Clarissa Cava, daughter of a mob bigwig in Naples, dissed a woman getting a perm in the next chair at the local hair salon. She happened to be Alba Graziano, matriarch of the famous international crime syndicate, whose family has feuded with the Cavas for 30 years. Rude words escalated into a slap across Ms. G's face, who stomped out hissing of revenge. A few nights later, she and her daughters Stefania, 21, and Chiara, 22, were waiting on the busy street with other family members near where the Cavas live. When Clarissa and family drove by in their shiny Audi 80, the Graziano donne reportedly sprayed them with machine-gun fire. Clarissa and two aunts were killed immediately. Her sister and a cousin were critically injured. Three of the Graziano women were wounded, evidence that the Cava ladies were also packing heat. Local media report that young Clarissa even had a vial of acid in her handbag--all part of the evening's work as the Cava women set off on their nightly quest to maim and disfigure women of rival clans. Police can only guess at what might come next. After the incident, a 62-year-old grandmotherly Graziano was arrested at the hospital where the Cava survivors were being treated. A 9mm handgun used in the shooting was stuffed in her bra.

Is "The Godfather" making room for "The Godmother"? Yes, in fact. When it comes to organized crime in Italy, the glass ceiling has shattered. Gone are the stay-at-home procreators of yore. Today, wives, mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters are increasingly the cornerstones of the tight-knit families that make the mob. What's pushed them toward the top, and into increasingly ...