Murder of Francesco Pio Maimone: Keeper of Gun Sentenced

The first conviction has arrived for the murder of the young aspiring pizza chef Francesco Pio Maimone, eighteen, killed "by mistake" in Mergellina on the night between March 19 and 20, 2023, while he was with some friends in front of a chalet along the seafront.

The judge for the preliminary hearings of NapoliChiara Bardi accepted the prosecutor's requests and sentenced Rocco Sorrentino to six years in prison. Sorrentino is one of a group of eight people identified by the Naples District Anti-Mafia Directorate as being involved in the senseless death of Francesco Pio.

The victim, a stranger to the criminal world, was hit in the chest by one of the bullets fired during a fight between rival gangs, which originated from a trivial argument over a pair of designer shoes.

Sorrentino, defended by lawyer Francesca Di Dio, is accused of possessing a .38 or .357 caliber firearm with related ammunition, believed to be compatible with the one used on the tragic night of Maimone's murder.

Furthermore, he is accused of being part of a Camorra-style criminal organization, specifically linked to the Valda/Aprea clan. The evidence incriminating him appears to come from wiretaps conducted by the Naples Flying Squad.

According to investigators, the person directly responsible for the shooting is Francesco Pio Valda, a twenty-year-old currently on trial before the first assize court of Naples together with six other defendants, including relatives and close friends.

Investigators have acquired wiretaps dating back to March 10, before the murder of Francesco Pio Maimone, which indicate that Rocco Sorrentino possessed a weapon similar to the one used in the murder.

It should be emphasized that the weapon used that tragic night between March 19 and 20, 2023, has not yet been found, just as the weapon that Sorrentino allegedly had at his disposal, as revealed by the recorded conversation, has not been found.

For the death of the aspiring pizza chef, the following are on trial before the Court of Naples: the present murderer Francesco Pio Valda, Alessandra Clemente, Salvatore Mancini, Giuseppina Niglio (Valda's grandmother), Giuseppe Perna (Valda's uncle), Pasquale Sainz, and Giuseppina Valda (Valda's sister).

(In the photo, the scene of the murder, and from left, the innocent victim Francesco Pio Maimone, the alleged murderer Francesco Pio Valda, and Rocco Sorrentino)