The GUP of Naples, Ivana Salvatore, has inflicted a total of approximately 150 years of prison on 18 of the 20 defendants involved in an investigation by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA) and the ROS of Naples into the business and financial activities of the Di Lauro clan of Secondigliano.
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The trial concerned in particular the operations under the regency of Vincenzo Di Lauro, second son of the clan leader Paolo Di Lauro, known as “Ciruzzo 'o milionario”, currently in prison.
The sentences
Among the most significant convictions:
- Vincenzo Di Lauro: 20 years of imprisonment
- Umberto Lamonica: 13 years and 4 months
- Diego Leone: 13 years and 6 months
- Raffaele Rispoli: 16 years and 8 months
- Daniele Volpicelli: 8 years
- Mark Minichini: 6 years and 8 months
- Raphael Christmas: 14 years, 9 months and 23 days
- John Courtesy: 7 years and 4 months
- Gennaro and Alessandro Nocera: 11 years each
- Peter Granata and Gennaro Rizzo: 6 years and 8 months
- Salvatore Esposito: 5 years
- Gennaro Better: 2 years and 8 months
- Louis and Anthony De Rosa: 2 years and 6 months
- Raffaele Barrese: 2 years
- Gennaro Casaburi: 1 year and 8 months
Tony Colombo and his wife Tina Rispoli acquitted
The neomelodic singer Antonino Colombo, aka Tony, and his wife Immaculate Rispoli, known as Tina, were acquitted of charges of external association with a mafia organization and participation in the production of contraband cigarettes.
Their legal case originates from the seizure of their cell phone. Columbo after her lavish wedding, celebrated on March 27, 2019 in Naples. The wedding, characterized by a white horse-drawn carriage and a wedding procession that blocked the traffic of Corso Secondigliano, had seen the participation of five inspector-musicians of the Penitentiary Police, later fired for having taken part in the ceremony.
Conversations with emerged from the phone chats Vincenzo Di Lauro, initially considered relevant for criminal purposes. However, the Gup ruled that such evidence was inadmissible, leading to the couple's acquittal.
The defense and the controversies
The couple's lawyers, Sergio Cola, Alfredo Sorge and Andrea Imperato, expressed satisfaction with the sentence, underlining how "Tony Colombo's artistic career has suffered a severe setback" due to the investigation. "The sentence dispels all doubts", they declared, hoping for "greater caution in the preliminary phase proceedings".
Tony Colombo, during his detention, had caused controversy for a singing performance organized in the Secondigliano prison on December 23. The couple, released respectively on October 20, 2024 and January 31, 2025 due to mitigation of precautionary needs, were placed under house arrest: Colombo in Gaeta and his wife in Minturno.
Waiting for the reasons
The acquittal for Colombo and Rispoli will now be followed by the publication of the reasons, expected within 90 days. In the meantime, the investigation by anti-mafia prosecutors Maurizio De Marco and Lucio Giugliano has led to the conviction of all the other defendants, confirming the central role of the Di Lauro clan in the illicit activities of the territory.
The trial has highlighted not only the criminal dynamics of the clan, but also the controversial connection between the world of entertainment and organized crime, a topic that continues to be debated by public opinion.
(In the photo from left: Vincenzo Di Lauro, Giovanni Cortese, Raffaele Rispoli, Umberto Lamonica, Marco Minichini, Raffaele Di Natale and Alessandro Nocera
Article published on March 7, 2025 - 19pm
