Naples – The breaking point today is a return: Ugo De Lucia, already on semi-liberty, has obtained permission to attend a baptism in Secondigliano, a decision made by the Venice surveillance office.
The news, relaunched in the city, rekindled the age-old and unresolved conflict between the re-educational logic of prison measures and the victims' families' perception of justice, especially when the victim has become a symbol of civility. "I'm ashamed to be Italian; the state allowed them to win," said Francesco Verde, brother of Camorra victim Gelsomina Verde.
November 2004: The trap in the first feud
Gelsomina Verde, “Mina”, was 21 years old and was killed on November 21, 2004, in the midst of the first Scampia/Secondigliano feud, the war between the Di Lauro clan and the Amato-Pagano splitters for control of the territory and drug dealing.
According to reconstructions, she was seized because she was believed—wrongly—to be able to provide information on Gennaro Notturno, linked to the secessionists: a target sought by rivals during those months of manhunt.
The kidnapping turned into a ritual of intimidation: hours of torture, then execution with three gunshots to the back of the head, and finally the attempt to erase everything by burning her body in a car. Her story was also shocking because Mina was not a "clan woman": she worked, did volunteer work, and is remembered as an innocent victim of organized crime.
The first convictions: definitive life imprisonment and related sentences
The legal proceedings have had significant developments over time. In the trial concluded on April 4, 2006, Ugo De Lucia, identified as the perpetrator of the murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Pietro Esposito was sentenced to 7 years and 4 months.
In 2019, the Court of Cassation rejected De Lucia's request for review, declaring the appeal inadmissible and making his conviction final, which had already been established on appeal in Naples in 2007 and subsequently sealed against attempts to reopen the case.
Cosimo Di Lauro also entered that procedural perimeter: sentenced to life imprisonment as the instigator in 2008, he was then acquitted of the charges in 2010, confirming how the "judicial truth" regarding the chain of command was more fragmented than that regarding the actual execution.
Twenty years later: new defendants and 30-year sentences
The case didn't stop with the initial verdicts. In 2023, following new investigations and statements from collaborators of justice, two more alleged members of the commando were identified.
The proceedings, conducted using an abbreviated procedure, concluded in the first instance with a 30-year sentence for Luigi De Lucia and Pasquale Rinaldi (“'o Vichingo”), considered participants in the action (in particular in the car escort), with a decision taken by the preliminary hearing judge of Naples Valentina Giovanniello at the request of the prosecutors Maurizio De Marco and Stefania Di Dona.
A name that isn't just "news"
Within the judicial news cycle, Gelsomina Verde has also become a place of public remembrance: initiatives, dedicated spaces, and a family commitment that over the years has transformed grief into a civic outreach, with her brother Francesco among the promoters of social activities and commemorations.
And this is also why a prison permit, even if formally included in the semi-liberty regime, is experienced as a tear: because it brings the murderer "back into" the territory and, symbolically, into the same history from which the victim had been expelled with exemplary violence.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (1)
The issue of Ugo De Lucia's parole is complex and raises questions about how the state administers sentences. The victims' families have conflicting feelings; it's important to listen to all the voices involved in this process.