Carabinieri officers from the Casavatore station, assisted in the operational phase by officers from the Casoria Company's Mobile Radio Unit, located and arrested 35-year-old Salvatore Ferone in an apartment on Monday night, ending his fugitive status. Since last November, he had been the subject of an execution warrant issued by the Attorney General's Office at the Naples Court of Appeal.
Captured in the dead of night
Ferone, considered a leading member of the eponymous clan operating in Casavatore and known in criminal circles as "o' Mackey," received a definitive ten-year sentence for conspiracy to traffic narcotics, committed in 2011 and 2012 between the municipalities of Casavatore, Arzano, and Naples. He had been unaccounted for since the sentence was issued in November 2025.
The blitz in Corso Europa
The relentless search for the man in all his usual locations, as well as numerous surveillance operations by the Carabinieri, led to his location on Monday night in Casavatore, inside his home on Corso Europa. The arrested man was subsequently taken to the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison.
The final conviction came after the arrests made following an investigation by the local Carabinieri station in 2011, which resulted in the imprisonment of 20 people, including Ferone himself. He had initially benefited from an overturned conviction before the trial returned to the Court of Appeal, definitively establishing his guilt.
The legacy of Operation Piazza Grande
The operation was set up in 2015, but the investigation coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate began way back in 2011. The raid targeted those who were dubbed the "marijuana kings" operating in the public housing on Via GB Vico, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Casavatore.
The business was impressive: takings of €150 a week, with pushers and lookouts paid up to €200 a day. Dozens of arrests were made in the mega-operation. A military task force surrounded the housing estate and, using battering rams, smashed down armored doors and ripped out grates protecting the drug dealing areas. Ferone, along with a former administrator, was also implicated in a major investigation into aggravated vote-buying using mafia methods, a charge of which he was later acquitted.
New criminal balances
As the chapter on 'o Mackey's fugitive status comes to a close, the local criminal scene appears to be in turmoil. Rumors are circulating of a new repositioning of the Pagano clan, which has reportedly taken over all illicit operations in Casavatore, definitively ousting the Ferone clan, historically considered an offshoot of the Melitesi clan.
PB
Changes and revisions to this article
- Article updated on 27/02/2026 at 09:33 PM - Content structure updated
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (1)
The article describes the arrest, but it seems confusing to me. The details aren't clear, and it seems investigators were late. They did a lot of research, but no one could fully explain the reason for his long absence. It suggests a likely criminal reshuffle and some local complicity.