Torre Annunziata: Camorra charges filed against former mayor Ascione

The investigating judge of Naples has ordered the archiving of the case against the former mayor of Torre Annunziata, Vincenzo Ascione, and for other former administrators, exonerating them from the accusations of Camorra infiltration.

The decision comes after the dissolution of the municipality in 2022, motivated by alleged links between some political figures and the Gionta clan.

The case was also archived for his deputy Luigi Ammendola, for the head of the technical office Nunzio Ariano, for the former president of the municipal council Rocco Manzo and for the former councilors Luisa Refuto and Gioacchino Langella.

The District Anti-Mafia Directorate itself requested the case be closed. According to the investigators, it was "only episodes of bad habits in the administrative management of the Municipality of Torre Annunziata", as stated in the reasons.

The investigations, launched on the basis of alleged links between some political figures with Salvatore Wave, nephew of a member of the Gionta clan, had led to the hypothesis of mafia influence on the administrative management of the city. However, subsequent in-depth investigations, coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate, did not find sufficient elements to confirm these suspicions.

The reasons for the decision:

The decision of the investigating judge is based on a rigorous evaluation of the evidence collected, which has highlighted how the conduct contested to the suspects, although revealing episodes of bad habits and administrative management that was not always transparent, cannot be traced back to a criminal plan aimed at favoring the interests of the Camorra.

The implications of the ruling:

This ruling raises important questions about the dynamics between politics and organized crime, particularly in territorial contexts strongly permeated by the presence of the mafia.

It demonstrates, on the one hand, the need for rigorous application of the law and thorough investigations to avoid miscarriages of justice, and on the other, the importance of distinguishing between deviant behavior and actual mafia infiltration.

Furthermore, the story of Torre Annunziata emphasizes the complexity of the phenomenon of mafia infiltration in institutions, which often manifests itself through more subtle and difficult to identify forms than traditional collusion schemes.