Ketty Gabriele

Who is Ketty Gabriele?

Ugo Gabriele aka Ketty is a reputed Italian mafia figure. Gabriele, a trans woman and member of the Camorra crime family, was reported as the first transgender mafia figure following an arrest by Naples police in February 2009. According to authorities, Gabriele is a small time capo behind a drug and prostitution ring for the Scissionisti di Secondigliano clan of the Camorra.

She pushed large quantities of drugs for Camorra boss Paolo Di Lauro, but since Di Lauro's arrest and the so-called Scampia feud between Camorra gangs, she did not need to answer to anyone anymore. Her elder brother, Salvatore Gabriele, is one of the Camorristi that graduated to become a boss. He wanted to extend his activities traveling the up and down Italy, supplying large and small-scale dealers, and left her to run things at Scampia.

Gabriele fits in an old and long tradition of gay or femminiello culture in Naples. Generally femminielli are considered good luck, for instance in gambling.