In the heart of Naples' Rione Sanità district, the Sequino-Savarese clan has regained its foothold, rebuilding its power after the 2019 arrests and sowing fear among residents. The precautionary custody order signed by investigating judge Ivana Salvatore has resulted in the arrest of eight clan members.
Naples – The power vacuum left by the Camorra clans following the 2019 arrests has never been more severe. In Sanità, one of the neighborhoods historically most contested by the Neapolitan Camorra, control of the territory was quickly regained by new criminal forces, built on alliances, high-profile releases, and an armed reorganization that brought fear back to the streets.
This is the picture that emerges from the precautionary custody order signed by investigating judge Ivana Salvatore, who the other day arrested eight members of the Sequino-Savarese clan, following an investigation stemming from the murders of the very young Emanuele Tufano and Emanuele Durante, two crimes that marked a dramatic escalation of crime in the heart of the neighborhood.
The post-Mauro era and the birth of the Savarese group
Until November 2019, Sanità had been the scene of a long series of judicial operations, culminating in the fourth and final investigation against the Mauro clan, the last historic organization to be dismantled. But that repressive phase, rather than ending the Camorra era in the neighborhood, opened another.
Immediately after the arrests, the territory was occupied by a new criminal gang, formed around the figure of Salvatore Savarese, known as 'o Mellone, grandson of the homonymous boss of the Sanità, born in 1953. An armed group that does not act autonomously, but is clearly placed in the orbit of the Mazzarella clan, receiving protection, support and operational directives.
A central role, in this phase, is played by Michele Mazzarella 'o fenomeno and from its historical referent Salvatore Barile, known as Totoriello, leading figures of a consortium that exercises hegemonic control over vast areas of the city.
Savarese was released on November 7, 2019, after years of detention for serious crimes. His release, combined with the presence of Mazzarella clan emissaries in the area, marked the beginning of a new management of illicit activities in the Sanità district: drugs, extortion, and military control of the public squares.
Links to the Sequino clan and the new criminal network
Around Savarese, men from the Sequino clan, historically rooted in the neighborhood, gather. Among them are Salvatore La Salvia, Luis Antonio Amodio, Gianluca Galeota, known as 'o Pedofilo, Gennaro De Marino, son of Ciro, and Salvatore Matrone, known as Sasone.
These are not marginal figures: La Salvia is Enrico La Salvia's cousin, while Amodio is Pasquale Amodio's son. Both have already been convicted of Camorra association as members of the Sequino clan, a circumstance that reinforces the criminal continuity between the old and new structures.
The invasion of Pirozzi “'o Picuozzo” and the split with the Mazzarellas
A further key step is represented by the release of Vincenzo Pirozzi, known as 'o Picuozzo, historic name of the Sanità Camorra, already convicted for participation in the Misso clan.
According to investigators, Pirozzi managed to free his group from the Mazzarellas' control, acquiring a sort of exclusive criminal ownership of the neighborhood. This rise, revealed by investigations still shrouded in secrecy, profoundly altered the local balance of power.
The serial releases and the rebirth of the Sequino clan
Between 2024 and early 2025, the situation changed again. Numerous prominent members of the Sequino and Misso-Torino-Sequino clans were released, one after the other: Luigi Esposito, known as 'o Cinese', to Antonio Esposito, the Baron, until Salvatore Pellecchia, a central figure destined to become the linchpin of the new criminal phase.
The very release of Pellecchia, on January 22, 2025, decisively accelerated the reconstitution of the Sequino clan. In a short time, men like La Marca, Esposito, Minci, and Esposito Ciro 'o Macall' regained control of the Vergini area and especially of Via Santa Maria Antesaecula, the clan's historic stronghold.
The alliance with Pirozzi and the military control of the neighborhood
Pirozzi's group, initially independent, eventually merged or formed a permanent alliance with the Sequino-Pellecchia group. This crucial step emerges clearly from an environmental wiretap from April 12, 2025, included in the investigation documents into the murder of Emanuele Durante.
Wiretaps: "We are one"
In that conversation, which features Emanuele Durante's family members, they recount the meeting they had with Savarese in the days following the murder.
It might interest you
Savarese tries to distance himself from the crime, claiming that neither he nor Pirozzi were aware of the ambush:
"What did Totore tell you?"
"That he knew nothing."
"That they knew nothing."
«He stopped me behind the square… he wanted to offer his condolences and I didn't want to.»
“He said, ‘Your son shouldn't have died, he didn't deserve what they did to him, but I swear we didn't know anything. Neither I nor Picuozzo.'”
Durante's parents angrily reject these words, convinced that those in charge of the health system cannot ignore a murder of that magnitude:
"Didn't they know anything about 'Zeppole Anguille'? Oh damn, that's bullshit!"
"You're in charge here and you didn't know anything?"
Even more significant is the passage in which the father of the young victim Emanuele Durante recalls having contested to Savarese the evident alliance between Pirozzi and Pellecchia:
“Sorry,” I told him, “I saw Picuozzo with this Pellecchia, all together.”
The answer, clear and unequivocal, comes from Savarese himself:
"We are one."
For investigators, this is definitive confirmation of the unified criminal organization that now militarily controls the healthcare system.
The murders as a message to the neighborhood
The murder of Emanuele Durante, prosecutors explain, is not merely revenge for the death of Emanuele Tufano, nephew of Silvestro Pellecchia, a leading member of the Sequino clan. Above all, it is a message to the neighborhood, a show of force aimed at reestablishing hierarchy and credibility.
A way to reassert the clan's dominance after a period of stagnation marked by internal tensions and the reticence of some members who had dared to evade the rules of the "system."
A bloody sign that has brought the Camorra back to the heart of the Sanità district and which today finds its first judicial response in the arrests ordered by the investigating judge. But the neighborhood's criminal landscape, as the order reveals, remains fluid, complex, and still deeply marked by the presence of the clans.
(in the photo from top left Salvatore Savarese o' mellone, Salvatore Pellecchia and Silvestro Pellecchia; bottom left Vincenzo Pirozzi 'o picuozzo and the two young victims Emanuele Tufano and Emanuele Durante)
Changes and revisions to this article
- Article updated on 21/12/2025 at 05:30 - Corrected a typo
- Article updated on 21/12/2025 at 08:21 - Corrected a typo
- Article updated on 21/12/2025 at 08:24 PM - Improved image quality
- Article updated on 21/12/2025 at 08:24 PM - Content typo corrected
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (10)
Send them to dig the Atida land
Munnezz, always report these 4 idiots... THE STATE ALWAYS WINS
All kids who throw their lives away, even Gennaro panzuto wakes up. He explains it to you with a spoon, wake up, life is beautiful.
these idiots must be caught and eradicated from Naples
Raffaele Casato Gennaro potbellied and an idiot
A plea to young people... kids, it's called MALAVITA because it sucks. If you're lucky, you'll spend most of your life behind four walls, locked behind a reinforced gate, or you'll be sent to the cemetery early, betrayed by the man you think is your best friend.
Don't waste your life! Naples is offering you a lot of opportunities right now, it's full of tourists. Make a hole in your hole and use your Neapolitan style: cooking, roasting, pastry, babysitting, etc. You guys, don't kill yourselves.
Notice, they all have the faces of shitty men. Now they're taking on the appearance of the fights they are.
The article describes very serious and complicated situations, but people don't seem to understand that the Camorra continues to influence their daily lives. We need to think about how to stop this vicious cycle of violence.
The situation is worrying, but there are also people trying to change things. It's important to give a voice to those fighting crime and not just listen to negative news.