Sulmona – On paper, the door to his cell should have remained hermetically sealed for decades to come. With a sentence set to end in 2052, the result of a string of final convictions, Vincenzo Criscuolo, 44, seemed doomed.
And yet, justice has yet another dramatic turn of events. The drug lord from the Sanità neighborhood, known in criminal circles as "Pekib" (or 'o Pekipp), has been released from the maximum security prison in Sulmona.
The defense strategy and the release
Despite his serious criminal record and recent arrest in November 2024—when he was recaptured after a period of escaping house arrest—the L'Aquila Surveillance Court has opened a window of opportunity. The judges fully granted the request submitted by Criscuolo's defense attorney, Domenico Dello Iacono, granting the 44-year-old the benefit of house arrest in a rehabilitation center.
The defense leveraged a documented medical condition: Criscuolo had been struggling with drug addiction for some time. This allowed the lawyer to break down the bars of the Abruzzo prison well before his sentence expired. A treatment facility in Taranto now awaits him, far from the drug dealing hubs of Naples, but still outside the prison system.
The profile: from follower to autonomous boss
"Pekib" is a figure who has risen through the ranks of the Neapolitan criminal underworld in recent years. Starting out as a man close to the Mauro dei Miracoli clan, Criscuolo managed to carve out a space of criminal autonomy for himself, becoming a top-level international broker.
His name hit the headlines for a wiretapped phrase that, better than a thousand dossiers, described his criminal megalomania: "I want to paint Naples white." The intention was clear: to flood the Campania capital with a river of cocaine. A goal he nearly achieved in 2021, before the axe of justice fell on his organization with a sentence on appeal to 13 years and 4 months.
The bra “system” and criminal chemistry
The investigations that nailed Criscuolo revealed a sophisticated modus operandi, worthy of a movie script. The Salita Capodimonte boss had forged direct ties with South American cartels, managing to secure a competitive price of just €2 per kilo for the "white powder" in Peru.
But it was the method of transportation that astonished investigators: the drugs weren't just traveling in containers (as in the case of the 25 kilos hidden in Brazilian coffee intercepted at the port), but were arriving soaked in fabrics. Specifically, the organization used bras and underwear soaked in liquid cocaine.
Once they arrived in Campania, the items were taken to a clandestine laboratory in Marano where, through complex chemical processes, the narcotic was “washed”, extracted and crystallized, ready to be cut and sold.
The drug holding
Criscuolo wasn't a maverick, but the head of a holding company with about twenty associates. From his headquarters, he managed retail sales in Salita Capodimonte, but primarily acted as a wholesaler for the city's busiest hubs: from Rione Traiano to Secondigliano, all the way to the Spanish Quarter.
Now, with his transfer to a community facility, his maximum-security prison term has (temporarily) ended. It remains to be seen whether his stay in Taranto will truly mark a path to recovery or just another strategic pause in the career of the drug lord who sought to whitewash Naples.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (1)
The article seems well-written, but there are many things I'm unclear about, especially how someone with such a criminal past could be granted house arrest. It would be interesting to know if there have been other similar cases.