Santa Maria Capua Vetere – The roar of firecrackers drowning out the whistle of a 9mm bullet. The colored smoke of fireworks mingling with the acrid smoke of gunpowder. Thus began, on a cold New Year's Eve two years ago, the trail of blood that led at dawn today to the dismantling of a fierce criminal gang in the heart of Caserta.
It was 00:30 a.m. on January 1, 2024. While the former IACP neighborhood of Santa Maria Capua Vetere was toasting the New Year, Emanuele Nebbia, 26, fell lifeless to the ground. It wasn't an accident, it wasn't a "stray bullet."
It was an execution: a gunshot to the head, straight and merciless, as the young man was bent over lighting fireworks. That blood spilled on the asphalt became the indelible trail followed by the men of the Caserta Flying Squad.
The Blitz at Dawn
This morning, the neighborhood's silence was broken again, but this time by the flashing blue lights of over 140 State Police officers. A massive operation, coordinated by the Naples Anti-Mafia Department and the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office, resulted in the execution of 17 pre-trial detention orders.
Among those targeted by the measure were three very young people, minors at the time of the events, demonstrating an increasingly precocious and unscrupulous criminal organization. During the searches, two other people were arrested red-handed, found with their hands still "dirty" with drugs.
A fratricidal war for control of the neighborhood
The investigations uncovered a veritable "reign of terror" established within the public housing complexes. What emerged was the portrait of a criminal gang torn apart by a ferocious internal war, waged between late 2023 and early 2024. An internal feud to decide who should be in charge, who should manage the drug dealing proceeds, who had the right of life and death in the neighborhood's alleys.
Before the Nebbia murder, tensions were already high. Investigators reconstructed a "stesa" (an intimidating demonstration shooting) that occurred on October 5, 2023, followed by an attempted revenge murder.
A spiral of violence that did not stop even after the bloodshed of New Year's Eve: on May 10, 2024, a "rebel" pusher, guilty of refusing to supply drugs to the clan, miraculously escaped a gunshot ambush.
The Charges: A Catalogue of the Crime
The investigation's outcome is extremely serious. The suspects are accused, on various counts, of crimes that paint a picture of extreme social danger:
Armed association for the purpose of drug trafficking;
Murder and attempted murder;
Extortion and illegal possession of weapons;
Use of cell phones in prison to continue giving orders even behind bars.
All of this is exacerbated by the mafia's methods: that climate of silence and subjugation typical of the Camorra, which allowed Nebbia's group to control every breath of the IACP neighborhood, transforming the public housing into an impregnable drug fortress. At least until this morning.
List of those arrested
Assunta Buompane, 23 years old from Santa Maria Capua Vetere, resident in San Prisco
Cristian Buompane, 42, from Santa Maria Capua Vetere, has been detained in Agrigento prison since October 10, 2023.
Elena Buompane, 21 years old
Giulia Buompane, 23 years old from Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Maria Busiello, 30 years old, born in Naples
Paola Capitella, 43, from Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Salvatore Capitella o' bobb, 72 years old, from Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Giovanni Cestrone, 30, from Santa Maria Capua Vetere, detained since March 3, 2024, in Poggioreale prison.
Maria Cristillo, known as 'a mucella, 48 years old, from Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Aniello Di Biase, 40, from Mugnano, has been under house arrest since April 17 in Giugliano in Campania.
Pasquale Giovanni Fabbozzi, 39 years old, from Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Maurizio Grieco, 57 years old, from Capua
Luciano Ivone, 26 years old from Naples
Migen Kreka, a 36-year-old Albanian national, is currently under house arrest in Riardo.
Salvatore Lazzaro, known as Lulù, 32, detained since November 25, 2021, in Poggioreale.
Nicola Marino, 21, from Santa Maria Capua Vetere, previously detained at the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison since October 21, 2024
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Comments (1)
It's truly incredible how the situation in some areas of Italy can become so violent and dangerous. People are afraid to go out, especially on nights like New Year's Eve. We hope the authorities can do more to ensure safety.