The precautionary warrant that last week led to the arrest of the new leaders of the D'Alessandro clan of Castellammare di Stabia paints a historical snapshot of an organization united externally but characterized by differing views on internal business and territorial management. Wiretaps reveal conversations between the leaders and the role and rise of their young heirs.
The command vacuum after the arrest of the mouse
It all began in August 2009, when Vincenzo D'Alessandro, born in 1976, nicknamed the mouse, the last remaining heir of the clan's founder, the late Michele D'Alessandro. His capture opens a leadership vacuum at the top of the Scanzano organization.
According to what was reconstructed by the magistrates, that space was quickly filled by his cousin Michele D'Alessandro, born in '78, son of Luigi known as Gigginiello, a prisoner at the time, released from prison in 2018 after nearly thirty years. It is he, Michele '78, who emerges as the clan's new operational point of reference.
Investigators emphasize that the very existence of the D'Alessandro clan has long been a 'consolidated judicial fact': its leaders, promoters, associates, and, above all, the Camorra's objectives based on the almost total control of illegal activities in the Castellammare area have been identified.
Scanzano, two areas and two family lines
Since 2010, investigations have described a clan divided into two internal branches, rooted in two distinct areas of the Scanzano neighborhood and in substantial competition with each other in terms of prestige and the actual management of business.
On one side is the group linked to the historic Partoria area, led by Michele D'Alessandro, born in 1978. On the other side is the line that refers to the so-called Palazzine di via Pergole, defined by investigators as the front of the 'youngest exponents' of the family.
In this last area – the Palazzine area – the names of the following stand out:
Michele D'Alessandro, born in 1992, son of Luigi D'Alessandro, born in 1973
Michele D'Alessandro, born in 1995, son of Vincenzo, born in 1976
Michele D'Alessandro, born in 1995, and Luigi, born in 1998, sons of Pasquale D'Alessandro, born in 1970
Court documents clarify that these are not warring factions, nor is there an open conflict. Rather, relationships of "rivalry and competition" emerge for the management of territory and business, within a framework of substantial cooperation and the constant sharing of illicit proceeds.
Two families, one organization
The key to understanding the wiretaps is clear: the clan operates along two main internal family lines. The first is headed by the family of the late Michele D'Alessandro, born in 1945, the historic clan leader. The second is his brother Luigi, born in 1947.
The lineage traced back to Luigi '47 is the one listed in the documents as 'the most active and predominant in the territory', with Michele D'Alessandro '78 firmly in command until his arrest in October 2013. The lineage descending from the late Michele '45, on the other hand, is described as less established and younger, but far from marginal.
Here, the figure of Michele D'Alessandro, born in 1992, son of Luigi '73, stands out. He operates under the "careful direction" of his mother and paternal grandmother, Teresa Martone. This female family leader, according to investigators, influences and directs the decisions of the young man in the Via Pergole area.
'Not in contention': The balance of revenue
Investigators insist on one point: the two internal lines do not appear to be engaged in an internal war. There is no violent overlapping of criminal interests, but rather a division of territory and revenue aimed at preserving the clan's unity with the outside world.
The documents reveal a fundamental agreement: the illicit proceeds are divided "proportionately," and both family branches jointly contribute to the support of the families of the detained members. A delicate balance, serving as a safety valve to prevent internal competition from escalating into conflict.
What divides them, the order highlights, is not their goals—always Camorra-related—but "their different vision of how to manage the family's affairs and how to control their territory." Not a rift, then, but two strategies and two criminal cultures coexisting within the same organization.
Rossetti and Spagnuolo, the 'dolphins' in the two family lines
Within this scenario, the investigators place two key figures, in 'equal' positions in their respective areas of reference: Antonio Rossetti known as the tough guy and Nino Spagnuolo said crooked head.
Rossetti is described as the 'dolphin' of Michele D'Alessandro '78 and of the latter's brother, Pasquale D'Alessandro born in 1971, known as the black.
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Spagnuolo, on the other hand, represents the counterpart in the branch headed by the descendants of the founder Michele '45. He is placed in the lineage traceable to Luigi D'Alessandro, born in 1973, Vincenzo '76, and Pasquale '70, all prisoners and sons of the founder. According to the documents, he is linked to Vincenzo '76 by a "comparative" relationship, a bond of comparison that dates back to his youth.
Personal rivalries behind different visions
The opposition between the two internal visions, magistrates explain, also stems from the personal rivalry between Rossetti and Spagnuolo. The latter is convinced that Rossetti himself ordered the 2015 attack on his life.
In that interpretation, Rossetti would be driven by "jealousy" for Spagnuolo's "distinct criminal qualities" and by "resentment" for having discovered—again, according to the investigative reconstruction—his "multiple illicit interferences for personal gain and to the detriment of the organization." The backdrop, once again, is not the clan's breakup, but the tension between those who claim centralized control of the business and those seeking to expand their own room for maneuver.
The Spoleto hideout: the clan live
The clearest picture of the clan's structure and internal hierarchy, however, emerged between September and October 2013, hundreds of kilometers from Castellammare, in Spoleto. It was here that investigators identified a house that, according to documents, became the "hideout" of Michele D'Alessandro '78.
In that house, the clan's leader took refuge with his wife Giovanna Girace, Antonio Rossetti, Stefania Boccia, and Sabato Schettino, attempting to evade the arrest warrant issued on October 7, 2013, by the Bologna Prosecutor's Office. The hideout, however, was bugged: bugs were planted inside, transforming those rooms into a privileged observation point on the clan's dynamics.
"Extremely important," investigators write, are the wiretapped conversations between Michele D'Alessandro '78 and Antonio Rossetti. These conversations, according to the prosecution, confirm the investigative framework: Michele's top position, Rossetti's operational centrality, the relationships with the younger branch on Via Pergole, and the system of money flows to the families.
"You in My Place": Rossetti Reigns as Director
It was in one of those conversations that Michele D'Alessandro '78, now determined to turn himself in to the Spoleto prison, formally entrusted Rossetti with the task of replacing him at the head of the clan on the ground.
Rossetti faces a complex challenge: he assumes the role of regent without blood ties to the D'Alessandro family. He must assert himself over the young offspring still at liberty, direct grandchildren of the founder Michele '45: among them, Michele D'Alessandro, born in 1992, son of Luigi '73, and Michele D'Alessandro, known as "Topino," born in 1995, son of Vincenzo '76.
Aware of the resistance, Michele '78 also showed Rossetti the method to legitimize himself: relations with other high-ranking affiliates would have to pass through Annunziata Napodano, Michele '78's mother. In other words, Rossetti's operational line would have to be anchored to the maternal figure of the regent, so as to remain under the umbrella of the Partoria branch.
"They have to give us the monthly salary": the ambulance and slot machine case
The wiretaps also document how money is used to balance the two internal visions. On December 10, 2014, in a conversation marked 3944, the Carabinieri intercepted a conversation between Michele D'Alessandro '92 and his mother.
The young man in charge of Via Pergole disputes the other branch of the family's handling of the division of extortion proceeds and says he's ready to change his ways: "Michele D'Alessandro '92," investigators note, "told his mother that he didn't agree with the other branch of the family's decision to divide the extortion proceeds, explaining that at that point he would have preferred to receive a 'monthly salary'."
The mother, aware of the lesser strength of her own branch, tries to bring him back to more moderate counsels, reminding him that there is already a monthly flow managed by Rossetti in their favor:
D'ALESSANDRO Michele '92: “yes, but why, for example, do we have to divide when they have their own?... Did you order them above theirs?... If we have to talk, I'll tell them... I say, I saw it myself... I don't eat above yours, otherwise they'll have to give me the money every month!...”
IR: “And Antonio will give you the five hundred euros he brings you each month!”
D'ALESSANDRO Michele '92: “what is Antonio giving me!!!... Were they the vending machines?”
IR: “those ones there... when did we get them...”
D'ALESSANDRO Michele '92: “the ambulance?... what does that have to do with it and the others can eat upstairs..!!”
Behind the jokes, investigators see a precise system: a portion of the profits managed by Michele D'Alessandro '78 is distributed monthly to the Via Pergole branch—through Rossetti—for the ambulance and slot machine business. This isn't just a profit-sharing arrangement, but also a means of maintaining balance within the clan, precisely at a time when Michele '92 is demonstrating a desire to further assert himself within the organization.
(in the photo, Via Pergola in Scanzano, the headquarters of the gang, and from top left, the late godfather Michele D'Alessandro, his wife Teresa Martone, and their three sons: Pasquale, Luigi, and Vincenzo. From bottom left, Luigi D'Alessandro, Gigginiello, his son Michele, and then Luigi D'Alessandro, Pasquale's son, and the brothers Michele and Vincenzo D'Alessandro, sons of Luigi, the second son of the late godfather)
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