Drug holding in Barra, "soft" sentences for the Ferrante Imparato street gang

Naples – Three convictions, but no punishment. The first-degree trial against the alleged Barra drug ring, accused of flooding the streets of the eastern neighborhood of Naples with cocaine and crack between the spring and summer of 2019, concluded with sentences significantly lower than the prosecutor's request.

At the conclusion of the trial, the panel sentenced Mario Fiorenzano, considered by investigators to be the leader of the group, to nine years in prison, a continuation of another previously reported sentence. Cristian Sarrubba was sentenced to five years and six months, while Maria Rosaria Fiorenzano, Mario's daughter, received a five-year sentence—also a continuation. Andrea Liccardo, however, was acquitted.

The verdict differs significantly from the prosecutor's requests, which had called for 26 years in prison for Mario Fiorenzano, 12 years for Cristian Sarrubba, and 11 years for Maria Rosaria Fiorenzano. According to the prosecution, the group was part of a criminal organization dedicated to drug trafficking and dealing, with a stable structure, defined roles, and an operational "bunker" on Via Ferrante Imparato.

Barra's drug holding

The names of Giovanni Aprile, Annamaria Arena, Carmine Pellegrino, and Carmela Gammella also appear in the file, along with the three convicted defendants and Liccardo. According to investigators' reconstruction, the group had its logistical base in a bunker-like apartment on Via Ferrante Imparato and ran a lucrative itinerant cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking ring, with deliveries by appointment in the Barra area and beyond.

According to the charges, Mario Fiorenzano was at the top of the organization. According to the prosecution, Aprile and Pellegrino were responsible for delivering the "goods" to customers, following pre-established shifts based on the boss's instructions: Aprile from 9 PM to midnight, Pellegrino from 3 PM to 9 PM. They were paid between 50 and 70 euros per day.

Pellegrino's wife, Carmela Gammella, allegedly provided support in the drug dealing activity, while Maria Rosaria Fiorenzano was entrusted with the delicate task of storing the drugs in the warehouse identified by investigators at Via Ferrante Imparato 299. There, according to the documents, the gang members also carried out their end-of-day accounts, taking stock of takings and remaining merchandise.

Also involved in the drug custody were Cristian Sarrubba, Annamaria Arena—who operated from her home in Giugliano in Campania—and Andrea Liccardo, nicknamed "the engineer." According to investigations, the drug dealing activity continued continuously from April 15 to May 24, 2019.

The raid on the bunker and the kidnapping

The investigative breakthrough came at the end of 2019. It was then that officers from the San Giovanni-Barra police station raided the bunker on Via Ferrante Imparato, which was linked to Mario Fiorenzano. His daughter Maria Rosaria, Cristian Sarrubba, and Annamaria Arena were present in the apartment at the time of the raid.

During the search, thanks in part to the sniffer dogs "Dorian" and "Nora," the officers discovered 86 packages of narcotics—mostly cocaine—and €4.205 in cash. The search then extended to an apartment in Giugliano in Campania, on Via degli Innamorati, where they found four more packages of drugs, packaging materials, and €1.050 in cash.

That's not all. Inside a car used by Fiorenzano, under the driver's side floorboard, the officers located another hiding place: 27 more packages of drugs were hidden there. In total, between the bunker, the car, and Giugliano's apartment, approximately 170 grams of cocaine were seized.

The four people present in the bunker were arrested and transferred to the Poggioreale and Pozzuoli prisons. Meanwhile, the investigation continues and leads to the issuance of a pretrial detention order against a total of eight suspects, six of whom will later be sent to trial.

The trial and the sentences under the prosecutor's requests

During the trial, three of the four defendants who elected to proceed to ordinary trial were found guilty of criminal charges, but with significantly less severe penalties than the punishment proposed by the Prosecutor's Office. For the prosecution, the scale and continuity of the drug dealing activity, the structure of the group, and the alleged leadership role of Fiorenzano justified a much more severe punishment.

The panel of judges, however, decided to downplay the situation, limiting Mario Fiorenzano's sentence to nine years, which would be continued with another sentence, and limiting the sentences of Sarrubba and Maria Rosaria Fiorenzano. Liccardo, identified in the reports as "the engineer" and the alleged custodian of the drugs, was acquitted.

The ruling's reasoning will clarify in the coming months what factors led the judges to deviate so markedly from the requests of the Prosecutor's Office, which will now have to decide whether to appeal the verdict.

(pictured from left: Mario Fiorenzano, his daughter Rosaria Fiorenzano, and Cristian Sarrubba)