Camorra, killed and dissolved in acid: 2 life sentences for the “honor” killing of Totoriello Esposito

Napoli– A textbook murder of the old Camorra: ruthless, silent, ritual. An execution in full mafia style, which took place in the tuff quarries of Chiaiano, far from prying eyes, where Salvatore Esposito, known as Totoriello, was first shot dead, then dissolved in boiling acid, in a barrel transformed into a chemical oven by his own executioners.

Today, more than ten years after that "honor killing" committed on September 27, 2013, the preliminary investigations judge of Naples, Valentina Giovanniello, has put a full stop to one of the bloodiest cold cases in the Neapolitan criminal history: life imprisonment for Paolo Abbatiello and Gianfranco Leva, 8 years for Raffaele Prota, accused of having participated in the death plan orchestrated by order of the Licciardi clan, a very powerful family of the so-called Secondigliano Alliance.

He was killed for his relationship with the wife of the son of the boss Gennaro Licciardi 'a scigna

According to the reconstruction of the Carabinieri of the ROS and the Provincial Command of Naples, who arrested the three instigators in May 2023, the motive is rooted in the most archaic dynamics of the criminal code: Esposito allegedly had a relationship with the wife of John Licciardi, son of Gennaro “the Monkey”, one of the historical founders of the clan. An unforgivable fault in the world of criminal honor, to be washed away with blood and the oblivion of acid.

The plan was coldly executed: Totoriello he was lured with an excuse, an alleged meeting with a detained affiliate, husband of Maria Licciardi (Gennaro's sister, who was also arrested while trying to escape to Spain). But the path was diverted and the man was handed over to his executioners.

After the gunshots, the body was placed in a drum filled with acid, brought to the boil with a homemade burner, to erase all traces.

What reopened the case was a phrase captured in an environmental interception in the context of another investigation, a detail that had escaped, which triggered a meticulous investigation and led to the truth. A truth made of archaic codes, family vendettas, and a ferocity that knows no time.

Esposito's murder is part of the long trail of blood of a Camorra that, even in silence, continues to use acid as its signature.