Theft gang, 12 arrested between Traiano and Pianura districts: "My husband is a very good thief, he earned 280 thousand euros in three months"

Naples. A family-run gang of thieves, with wives supporting husbands who were so skilled at their profession that they earned tens of thousands of euros a month "working day and night." This is what emerged from the investigation that led to the arrest of 12 people this morning (six in prison and six under house arrest with electronic tags). "Working day and night, my husband is a very skilled thief. In just three months, he managed to earn 280 euros," said the wife of one of the members of the Rione Traiano and Pianura neighborhood gang, a gang accused of committing 17 thefts and robberies in Caserta, Naples, and Salerno. The leader of the criminal group dismantled today was Salvatore Salvati, according to the Santa Maria Capua Vetere Prosecutor's Office.
A criminal organization based in the Neapolitan neighborhoods of Pianura and Rione Traiano, but operating throughout the region. At its head was Salvati: the 44-year-old was arrested on November 7th after the robbery at La Selva park, between Caserta and San Nicola la Strada. The previous evening, while attempting to chase down the fourth member of the gang, Carabinieri Deputy Brigadier Emanuele Reali was hit by a train near the Caserta train station. According to the investigation, Salvati was responsible for managing the organization's illicit proceeds and dividing them among its members, as well as giving instructions on roles and responsibilities to other members.
This morning, the Carabinieri of the Caserta Company executed the order issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, at the request of this Prosecutor's Office. The suspects are accused of criminal association aimed at burglaries and robberies; as well as in relation to 17 burglaries, committed or attempted, and robberies, in the cities of Caserta, Naples and Salerno, between 13 July and 06 November 2018. The investigation began on July 13, 2018, following an attempted burglary in Caserta, where a group of six people attempted to force their way into an apartment on Via Lincoln. The sudden return of the owners of the house caused the thieves to flee in three cars. On that occasion, the Carabinieri of the Operational and Radiomobile Nucleus of the Caserta Company arrived and pursued the cars. Pasquale Iorio was arrested for resisting a public official, while the others, after abandoning the cars used for the getaway, disappeared on foot through the city streets. The investigative focus was on the various lock picks and burglary tools seized from the cars abandoned by the criminals, which revealed the existence and operation of a stable group of people professionally and organizedly dedicated to committing burglaries. On this occasion, a key piece of information emerged for the useful continuation of the investigation: for one of the cars abandoned by the thieves, it appeared that the owner, a relative of Anna Artuso (a long-time member of the criminal organization), had filed a theft report shortly after the same vehicle was found and seized in Caserta by the Carabinieri. The car was then returned to its owner and Pasquale Reale, Anna Artuso's husband and also a member of the criminal organization, was responsible for collecting it. The involvement of Pasquale Reale was later confirmed by subsequent investigations on other seized vehicles, since they were used to carry out the thefts, one of which was found to have been rented by Reale himself from a car rental company in Naples. During the in-depth investigative activities, the particular tenacity of the criminal group was ascertained, which did not even stop before seizure orders for the vehicles used in the thefts. In fact, on the night of July 26, 2018, Reale, along with two other accomplices, had entered the judicial warehouse where the seized vehicles were kept, to recover the burglary tools and a cellophane bag hidden under the back seat of a seized car and containing some gold jewelry, the proceeds of the theft. The criminal plan to recover the stolen goods was unsuccessful, as the seized vehicles had previously been moved by the Carabinieri to another judicial warehouse, precisely in order to prevent the criminal action from being carried out. Subsequent investigations, starting with Pasquale Reale, allowed us to reconstruct the organization's organizational chart and the roles held by each of its members: Salvatore Salvati, head and organizer of the association, given his coordination role and the prominent position recognized by the other members. In fact, Salvati was the one who managed the association's illicit proceeds and divided them among its members. It also emerged that, even during thefts, he gave instructions to his associates regarding the roles and tasks each was to perform (driver, lookout, execution material), the tools to be used, and so on. Pasquale Reale, with the role of organizer, close collaborator of Salvati, was responsible for coordinating the activities of the other associates to ensure
the efficiency of the association's organizational apparatus. In fact, he is the one responsible for obtaining the telephones (with fictitious numbers registered in his name), the burglary tools, as well as renting or acquiring the vehicles used to commit the thefts. He also participates, like Salvati, in the execution of the thefts and directly manages the relationship with the receiver to whom he sells the jewels proceeds of the crimes. Salvatore Esposito, Salvatore Garofalo, Pasquale Attanasio, and Cristian Pengue participate in the organization with tasks essentially limited to the physical execution of the thefts, alternating the role of physical executor with that of "lookout." Anna Artuso, Reale Pasquale's wife, and Tiziana Di Biasi, Esposito Salvatore's wife, participated in the organization, demonstrating their knowledge of the group's dynamics and, on several occasions, demonstrating their willingness to support its criminal activity, even at the risk of being discovered. In particular, both women went on various occasions to recover their associates during unsuccessful thefts, such as those of July 13 and November 6, 2018 in Caserta, or participated in the commission of thefts with the task of "lookout" to signal the possible arrival of the police. All the other recipients of the precautionary measures, namely Patrizio Salvati, Pasquale Iorio, Marco Scamardi and Rocco Tomaselli, despite being outside the context of the association, participated in the material commission of several residential burglaries, demonstrating high professionalism, unscrupulousness and a propensity to commit crime. The investigation was conducted using traditional methods of observation, shadowing, and wiretapping, thus enabling the acquisition of solid evidence regarding the criminal organization's modus operandi. The organization operated across territorial boundaries (starting in the Traiano district of Naples, committing thefts not only in Naples, but also in the Caserta area and the province of Salerno). Targets were selected through careful on-site inspections, including apartment buildings with doors equipped with "European" cylinder locks. Once the target was located, the getaway cars were parked and "lookouts" equipped with two-way radios were set up. The remaining members, however, went to the homes, after carefully checking that the owners were not home. This was confirmed by ringing the intercoms repeatedly and at short intervals. Confident of the owners' absence, the gang members entered the apartments using the drainpipes and balconies, or by forcing the locks by removing the protective covers. This last operation was carried out using bolts, screwdrivers, modified wrenches, and Bulgarian keys, to the point of removing all protective covers. The tools, which until then had been kept in cars parked nearby, were, when necessary and upon telephone or radio request, physically brought to those who were in front of the door to be broken into; once the apartment had been raided, the criminals fled on board at least two cars, strictly rented, to evade subsequent police checks, being able to rely on the association's facilities.
permanently dedicated to recovering the perpetrators of the thefts. The stolen goods varied depending on the target: jewelry and gold ornaments were the criminals' favorite target, as they could easily be cashed in through fences, but they also did not disdain household appliances such as vacuum cleaners or robot vacuum cleaners.
The investigative activity, which often succeeded in preventing the thefts from being carried out, also allowed us to learn, from the intercepted conversations of the suspects, how in just three months they had earned approximately 280.000 euros, "working night and day").
The criminal activity of the group, however, was interrupted by the Caserta Carabinieri immediately after an apartment burglary in the provincial capital on November 06, 2018. It is recalled that on that occasion, Carabiniere Emanuele Reali of the Caserta Carabinieri Operations Unit was killed during the pursuit of the criminals.
Specifically, on this occasion, using the well-established modus operandi of the criminal organization, while one of the members, Pengue, waited in the car, acting as a lookout and rescuer for their escape, Salvati, Reale, and Attanasio forced their way into an apartment on Via Alfieri in Caserta, from which they stole appliances. Reale and Pengue were apprehended by the Carabinieri after a brief chase, while the other two managed to escape and hide.
After incessant searches, Salvati and Attanasio were located, while they were waiting for Anna Artuso to come and rescue them. A new chase ensued, during which the Carabinieri managed to block only Salvati, while Attanasio managed to escape again, pursued by vice-brigadier Reali who lost his life when he was hit by a train during the search for the fugitive.
Attanasio's disappearance lasted less than 48 hours, as the Carabinieri's pressing searches forced him to report to the Caserta Provincial Command to turn himself in, pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by the Public Prosecutor of this Office.