Boscoreale fishmonger murder: life sentence for the boss's son and 70 years for his three accomplices.

The Second Assize Court of Naples today pronounced its sentence in the murder trial of Antonio Morione, the fishmonger killed during an attempted robbery in Boscoreale on December 21, 2021.

After a trial that lasted nearly a year, beginning in July 2024, the judges convicted the four defendants, finding them guilty of most of the crimes they were charged with: voluntary homicide, aggravated robbery—committed and attempted—and illegal possession of a firearm.

All the defendants were acquitted of the attempted murder of Giovanni Morione, the victim's brother.

The sentences

A harsh decision, in line with the picture reconstructed by the Prosecutor's Office, but more severe than the final outcome with respect to one of the four defendants:

Giuseppe Vangone: life sentence with 12 months of daytime solitary confinement.

Luigi Di Napoli: 30 years in prison.

Angelo Palumbo: 30 years in prison.

Francesco Acunzo: 20 years in prison, sentence reduced following the granting of a fast-track trial.

For Acunzo, in fact, the Court applied the reduction provided for by Article 438, paragraph 6-ter of the Code of Criminal Procedure, recognizing the possibility of an abbreviated trial, initially declared inadmissible at the preliminary hearing.

The prosecutor had requested life sentences for all of them, with two years of solitary confinement.

The reconstruction of the facts

The trial retraced the dramatic sequence of events that, that December evening, transformed two robberies at two fishmongers into a murder. According to the prosecutor's reconstruction—deemed credible and coherent by the court—the gang first robbed Giovanni Morione's business. Shortly thereafter, the same men reached his brother Antonio's fishmonger, attempting a second robbery.

The shopkeeper's reaction derailed the gang's plans: Antonio Morione managed to damage the robbers' car, slashing one of the tires with a utility knife. At that moment, at least four gunshots were fired. One of them hit him in the back of the head, killing him.

The murder of Antonio Morione sparked widespread outrage in Boscoreale and throughout the Vesuvius area, becoming a symbol of the brutality of an increasingly aggressive predatory crime. With today's ruling, the Assize Court brings a close to a complex legal case, which concluded with severe sentences and a single partial acquittal.