How a Naples mafia boss ran his crime empire from a Lancashire caravan park

When you think of the extravagant homes of Italian mafia bosses, you probably don’t think of a caravan in Lancashire.

But that’s exactly where one mafia boss from Naples ended up, and Gennaro Panzuto recently revealed everything about his journey there in an interview with the BBC.

Panzuto, now 45, ended up at the caravan park just north of Preston after he was forced to leave Italy, due to an escalating gang war.

Back home in Naples, he’d risen up the ranks of the Camorra and had a reputation for being ruthless because of his actions during a violent inter-clan war, which ravaged the city over the winter of 2005.

During this war, Panzuto was linked to the murder of fellow gangster Graziano Borelli and needed somewhere to hide out. He’d met a British ‘businessman’ through his illegal activities who flew him to the UK, collecting him from Liverpool Airport in a Rolls Royce and taking him straight to the pub.

A police mugshot of Panzuto

The Italian rented a unit at the Six Arches Caravan Park in Scorton, and began working for his British host, firstly by sorting out a debtor ‘the Camorra way’ – he ended up attacking the man in a car park, headbutting him and throwing him to the floor.

Panzuto then moved on to carousel fraud – the theft of VAT – and was astonished at how easy it was to dodge the taxman in England compared to Italy.

While over here he was still commanding 1,500 criminal lieutenants back in Naples, but it all came crashing down in 2007 when British police came knocking – according to reports he politely surrendered.

Naples

One of his neighbours from the caravan park was shocked when the truth came out. Mick Bury initially came into contact with Panzuto when the Italian clipped his car – he gave Mr Bury a number to call, and within 20 minutes someone in a suit arrived and slipped him £200 in notes.

Mr Bury told the BBC: “No questions asked – he just wanted it sorted… The joke – when I went out with my friends – was, ‘Hey, you need to watch out, he might be a mafia man.’”

The two became friends, watching football together, and the mobster gave Mr Bury a pair of Tuscan leather dancing shoes that he still wears to this day.

Back in Italy Panzuto accepted a plea deal, meaning he could be out of prison next year, telling the BBC about his remorse for his crimes: “I am as ashamed as a dog. Murdering people doesn’t take anything – it just takes great cowardice. That’s all.”