Ferdinando Russo was born on November 25, 1866, in
Naples, the second of seven children, from Gennaro Russo, an official at the consumer tax office, and from Cecilia De Blasio. He attended the Technical Institute reluctantly and frequented with great interest instead a republican club located in piazza Trinità Maggiore, participating in the many protest demonstrations. He was therefore arrested by the police in 1882. After having beaten up a Camorrista who was annoying his girlfriend, the then nineteen-year old Russo was approached by the guappo Teofilo Sperino. Later he also met Cappuccio, the head of the "honoured society". His fame and knowledge of the slums and underworld of Naples was such that
Emile Zola wanted him as an escort in his descent in the belly of the Neapolitan labyrinth in 1894. The first novel of Russo, written as a
feuilleton in 1907 and published by Treves (
Memorie d’un ladro - Memoirs of a thief), was based on the costumes of the Camorra underworld. The same year he published
Origini, usi, costumi e riti dell’Annorata soggietà (Origins, customs, traditions and rituals of the "Honoured Society") in collaboration with
Ernesto Serao, which was a combination of an essay, journalistic investigation and historical reconstruction with portraits of famous Camorristi and popular sonnets on the subject. In 1901 he married Elisa Rosa Pennazzi, a
café-chantant singer. The marriage ended early due to the jealousy of his wife, who had have him followed by a private investigator. Already suffering from
diabetes, he died in Naples on January 30, 1927. ==References==