Naples – The first judicial chapter in the murder of Salvatore Coppola, the engineer killed on March 12, 2024, in Corso Protopisani, has been closed. The third section of the Naples Assize Court issued the first-instance sentence this afternoon: 27 years and six months in prison for the perpetrator, 66-year-old Mario De Simone, and 27 years for the instigator, 75-year-old businessman Gennaro Petrucci.
The confession in the courtroom
The verdict comes at the end of a trial marked by the defendants' admissions. Represented by lawyers Melania Costantino and Maria Di Cesare, respectively, De Simone and Petrucci chose to make full confessions, confirming the roles already outlined by investigators. The prosecution's case held up on the merits, leading the judges to uphold the aggravating circumstance of premeditation, while ruling out any Mafia involvement and, for the killer alone, frivolous motives.
The motive: the villa in Portici
At the heart of the crime are not clan dynamics, but rather a personal resentment that had been brewing for years. A grudge Petrucci harbored against engineer Coppola, linked to the auction sale of a villa in Portici where the entrepreneur lived with his wife (Silvana Fucito, known for her anti-racketeering efforts and completely uninvolved in the events). That real estate loss was apparently the spark that led the 75-year-old to plan the deadly "lesson."
From wounding to execution: the price of blood
The trial documents reveal a disturbing detail about the genesis of the crime. The instigator intended the ambush to be merely an act of intimidation: a few shots to the legs to "warn" the professional. However, Mario De Simone, who had been charged with the crime for a promise of €20, turned the warning into execution. The hitman admitted to firing a single shot to the back of the head to prevent the victim from recognizing him.
The hitman's balance
The compensation for Coppola's death was paid in installments. According to Petrucci's reconstruction, the killer received a paltry initial advance—€500 and four bottles of wine—followed by several installments totaling approximately €7. A partial payment for a crime that shocked the San Giovanni a Teduccio neighborhood and which today finds its first trial conclusion.
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