Extortion and shooting at La Maddalena: sentences of 34 years in prison in total for the five extortionists of the Mazzarella clan who on January 4th of last year were the protagonists of a furious shootout in the Duchesca market. In the shooting, an innocent 10-year-old girl from Melito was injured who was with her father and three Senegalese citizens. They received 9 years of prison each, compared to the 14 requested by the Naples DDA, Gennaro Cozzolino, Valerio Lambiase and Antonio Sarnelli, known as 'blue eyes', a prominent member of the Mazzarella clan. Three years and six months for Luciano Rippa and Gennaro Vicedomini. The latter two acted as "navigators": they were also traders but they reported to the three extortionists which non-EU citizens they should pursue with the extortion requests. The three, according to the prosecution, are all believed to be close to the Mazzarella group, at the time of the events in conflict with the Sibillo-Corallo family precisely because of the profitable management of extortion in the Duchesca market area: 14 thousand euros per month. For the informants, these are earnings that are used to pay the 'penalties' to the members in prison and their families.
They showed up at the Duchesca local market in Naples, a few steps from the central station. They demanded 'pizzo' from the stalls run by Africans. Ten euros a week: they were the new leaders. But the street vendors rebelled and they returned armed and opened fire on the crowd. One of the non-EU he was wounded in the leg while a bullet hit a 10-year-old girl who was walking with her father in search of her gift for the Epiphany. A year later, the investigating judge of Naples has convicted five people for extortion, finding them guilty of having imposed the payment of the racket. There is no evidence to frame them for the shooting, also because no contribution arrived from the victims.
(in the photo from left Gennaro Cozzolino, Valerio Lambiase, Luciano, Rippa and Gennaro Vicedomini; below Antonio Sarnelli)
Article published on 9 January 2018 - 21:33
