SEE: The 'Godfather' funeral angering Italy

It was a sendoff fit for a real boss. Well, that it’s if he’s the boss of atrocious taste.

The gaudy funeral for alleged mobster Vittorio Casamonica in Rome made it clear that he didn’t want to be remembered as an alleged mobster but an out-and-out mafia don.

His cortege included a horse-drawn gilded carriage with six black horses. There was a helicopter that threw rose petals at the hundreds of mourners who gathered at San Giovanni Bosco church to bid farewell. Posters throughout showed photos of a smiling Casamonica, declaring him “King of Rome” and saying, “You conquered Rome. Now you’ll conquer paradise”.

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And, to drive home the point, a brass band outside played the theme music from “The Godfather” as his casket was brought into the chapel. Once services were over, Casamonica’s coffin was brought out as the brass band played “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, better known as the theme song from “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

Several Italian lawmakers were vocally outraged that someone accused of mob ties received such an ostentatious goodbye. Casamonica is alleged to have run a mob family bearing his name operating in the southwest part of Rome. The city is in the midst of a crackdown on mafia involvement in city contracts, with several dozen people scheduled to stand trial later this year.

In the meantime, the pilot of the helicopter that threw those rose petals had his license suspended for flying too low.

 

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