The daughter of a former Italian crime boss has described her father being there to celebrate her 50th birthday as ‘amazing’ – after he came out of hiding to attend her party.
Mafia ‘princess’ Marisa Merico took over as leader of the infamous ‘Milan Ndrangheta’ gang aged 22, while her father gave her orders from a prison cell in the late 1980s and 90s.
The Sunday Mirror reported that reformed Emilio Di Giovine, 70, recently flew into Manchester Airport from an unknown location where he has been in hiding since informing on his fellow gang members almost three decades ago.
It was the first time he he’s left Italy, with Marisa previously travelling to see him, her most recent visit being six years ago.
The pair cried and held each other during their reunion, before heading to a country house near his daughter’s home in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, for a party – where Marisa wore a Versace dress.
Mafia Princess Marisa Merico and her father Emilio Di Giovine, 70, were reunited as he left Italy for the first time in 27 years to celebrate Marisa’s 50th birthday
Marisa also spoke candidly about the day she married henchman Bruno Merico, and narrowly escaped death.
Had her father been in the car to give her away, she says, two armed men on bikes would have destroyed the vehicle to kill him – and they wouldn’t have thought twice about shooting her in the cross-fire.
‘There were times when I was in dangerous situations. The most was my wedding,’ she said.
‘There were not only the police but two men with bikes who would have shut down the car had my father been there to give me away.’
Marisa took over as leader of the Milan Ndrangheta gang aged just 22 as her father gave her orders from a prison cell in the 1990s (pictured together when she was a baby)
Thankfully they had decided it would be too dangerous for Emilio to attend, and he missed the wedding, making a reunion for Marisa’s 50th even more poignant.
About him being with her for her birthday she said: ‘I can’t believe he is here, where I have lived most of my life. It’s surreal.’
Marisa went public with her story after turning her back on crime following a two years and nine months stint in HM Prison Durham for using laundered Mafia money to buy a £1.6million house in England.
Aged 11 a photograph was taken of Marisa with a doll in one hand and a gun in the other, as she became more involved in her father’s criminal enterprise
The pair cried and held each other during their reunion, before heading to a country house near his daughter’s home in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, for a party (pictured)
Despite moving with her British-born mother back to her home town of Blackpool aged nine, Marisa spent each summer with her Italian family in Milan.
The family business – at first unknown to her mother Pat, who was aged 23 when she fell in love with Emilio, then 20 – was drug smuggling.
The pair met when Pat was working as an au pair and they enjoyed an intense romance before splitting when Marisa was one.
Aged 11, a photograph was taken of Marisa with a doll in one hand and a gun in the other as she became more involved in her father’s criminal enterprise.
By the time she was 17 she had officially joined the firm and met her first husband, with whom she was sent on a Bonnie and Clyde-style adventure across Europe to deliver £500,000 to gangsters in Seville.
Despite moving with her British-born mother back to her home town of Blackpool aged nine, Marisa (pictured in her Versace party dress) spent summers with her Italian family in Milan
She described the moment the pair stopped for coffee on their ten-hour drive only to find five Carabinieri (Italian police) cars at the services.
Trying to avoid any suspicion, despite having a car filled to the brim with weapons, they still stopped their Citroen for a coffee – and avoided detection.
She had her first child, a daughter Lara, now 28, with Bruno, but they divorced in 2000.
Marisa had her second child, son Frank, now 19, with Frank Birley – who was shot dead while she was pregnant in April 2000. He had just been released from jail after serving a 14-year sentence for armed robbery and hostage-taking.
Emilio and Marisa (pictured when she was a young girl) were first reunited by the Sunday Mirror six years ago during a cloak-and-dagger meeting
Her mother Pat died in 2012 and Emilio is now married to a woman ten years younger than his daughter.
Emilio and Marisa were first reunited by the Sunday Mirror six years ago during a cloak-and-dagger meeting and hadn’t seen each other again as Emilio lives under a false name.
Marisa has turned her life around and now gives talks on her story alongside studying for a degree in Criminology. Her book, Mafia Princess, is being turned into an Italian Amazon Prime film.