Avellino – A new development has emerged in the investigation into the attempted robbery of the "Gioie di Torrette" jewelry store in Mercogliano, which took place on October 22, 2024.
The Avellino Flying Squad, acting on orders from the investigating judge of the Naples Juvenile Court, executed a precautionary custody order against Luigi D. M., a Neapolitan, already convicted of the murder of Santo Romano, the 19-year-old killed in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio in November of the same year.
The arrest, requested by the Naples Juvenile Prosecutor's Office, brings to three the total number of people jailed for the failed jewelry robbery. The first two—both thirty-year-olds from the Naples area—were arrested last June.
The minor and the connection with the murder of Santo Romano
The young man, transferred to the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center in Rome, is seriously suspected of attempted aggravated robbery and illegal possession of a firearm.
But his name was already known to investigators: on the night between November 1 and 2, 2024, in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, the minor had shot and killed Santo Romano, the young footballer who had attempted to break up a fight that had broken out over trivial reasons—a shoe stepped on during an argument between peers.
The shot, fired from a 7.65 caliber pistol, struck him in the chest. Romano died shortly thereafter, before the astonished eyes of his friends.
Subsequent investigations by the Naples Flying Squad revealed that the 17-year-old had participated in the attempted robbery in Mercogliano just ten days before the murder, confirming a precocious and violent criminal career, characterized by uncontrolled behavior.
The failed coup of Mercogliano
It was late morning on October 22, 2024, when an armed commando composed of four people—three men and a woman—entered the Torrette di Mercogliano shopping center.
The gang, their faces covered by Carnival masks and green vests, broke into the jewelry store after the woman in the group managed to get the door opened by posing as a customer interested in making a purchase. Once inside, the accomplices brandished rifles and pistols, threatening the clerk and attempting to break into the windows.
The robbery was foiled by the quick thinking of the owner of a nearby pet shop: he noticed the suspicious movements through his surveillance cameras, immediately alerted the police and even tried to obstruct the robbers by throwing a stick towards the entrance, despite being faced with a gun pointed at him.
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The timely arrival of the patrol cars forced the bandits to flee: three of them fled in a dark car towards the Avellino Ovest motorway toll booth, while their accomplice managed to escape in a small car.
Investigations and findings
The employee's screams and the residents' testimonies, along with security camera footage, provided valuable evidence to investigators from the Flying Squad, coordinated by the Avellino Prosecutor's Office.
The investigation, conducted through technical checks, analysis of telephone records, and ballistic comparisons, allowed us to reconstruct the preparatory phases and the execution of the robbery, ultimately identifying those responsible for the failed attack.
The minor's position, initially marginal, was clarified thanks to digital traces and cross-referencing, which place him among the members of the operational group that entered the jewelry store.
An early and violent criminal profile
The arrest of the 17-year-old Neapolitan, originally from Barra and a friend of another child killer, Francesco Pio Valda, sentenced to life in prison for the murder of the innocent Francesco Pio Maimone (killed in Mergellina on the night of March 19, 2023, also for a dirty designer shoe), already convicted of one murder and now charged with an attempted armed robbery, reignites alarm about organized youth crime and the role of minors in crimes of violence and armed robberies.
A journey that, in the space of a few months, took him from robbing a jewelry store to pulling the trigger on a peer, marking an escalation that the juvenile judge defined as "indicating high social dangerousness and a total lack of emotional control."
Meanwhile, the investigation continues: investigators are now aiming to identify the woman in the group and clarify any connections with other similar episodes that occurred in the Naples and Irpinia areas during the same period.
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