Naples – The starting point is clear: Emanuele Durante was shot around 6:18 PM on March 15, 2025, while he was riding in a black Smart car with his girlfriend on Via Santa Teresa degli Scalzi, heading towards Piazza Dante.
About forty minutes after being admitted, he died at the Pellegrini hospital where he had been transported.
According to investigating judge Federica Colucci, the motive dates back to the night of October 24, 2024: Emanuele Tufano dies in a firefight between groups of young criminals from the Sanità and Mercato neighborhoods, and Durante is also implicated in the armed clash.
And this is why the other member of the commando who shot Emanuele Durante on the evening of March 15, 2025, has been in prison since this morning. He is Vincenzo Brandi, 31 years old, resident in Via Salita Capodimonte.
The charges are very serious: conspiracy to commit premeditated murder with the aggravating circumstance of mafia methods, illegal possession and carrying of a firearm, and receiving stolen goods (a motorcycle).
At the center of the investigation is the March 15, 2025, ambush on Via Santa Teresa degli Scalzi, in which 23-year-old Emanuele Durante was shot and killed. Two other suspects, Salvatore Pellecchia and Alexandr Babalyan, are already on trial for that same murder in the Naples Assize Court. They were arrested on May 5, 2025, by an order confirmed by the Court of Review. Brandi is now included in the case as the third suspect in the manhunt that, according to the judge, preceded the fatal shooting.
Investigations revealed that after that incident, the Camorra system in the Sanità district and the family linked to the Pellecchias had launched a sort of internal investigation to determine responsibilities and reticence, ultimately leading to plans for revenge.
In this reading, Durante becomes a target not so much because he was identified as the actual perpetrator of the robbery that killed Tufano (a circumstance that is described in the documents as unverified), but because he was summoned and deemed reticent and "disrespectful" towards those in the neighborhood who demand answers and obedience.
The Sanità district context and the clan's influence
The order places the ambush within an area considered historically marked by the presence of the Sequino clan, with a network of alliances, releases, and criminal reorganizations that—according to the documents—reinvigorate their ability to control and intimidate the neighborhood. It is against this backdrop that the judge adds the aggravating factor of mafia-related crime: a homicide committed in a highly visible manner, in a densely populated area, "essentially resembling a real execution," and also believed to enhance the group's prestige and power.
Vincenzo Brandi is Emanuele Tufano's brother-in-law
The investigators' reconstruction indicates Salvatore Pellecchia as the instigator/organizer and Alexandr Babalyan as the organizer and perpetrator of the murder. Vincenzo Brandi is described as the organizer and, in the prosecution's case accepted by the investigating judge, an active participant in the tailing and subsequent stages of the crime. Brandi is linked to the crime primarily by family ties: he is Emanuele Tufano's brother-in-law.
"A crucial piece," the judge wrote, "to understanding the motive. Moreover, his social media profiles are full of photos of him and his young brother-in-law, along with numerous phrases calling for revenge.
The sequence: from the inspection to the execution
Thanks to images from public video surveillance cameras and the license plate capture system, a day marked by sightings and cover-ups is outlined: Brandi, riding a Honda SH, spots Durante's car parked on Salita Capodimonte (the girlfriend's area), then proceeds to an inspection, then the victim's movements are monitored, until the action on Via Santa Teresa degli Scalzi.
The investigating judge ruled that the ambush was premeditated: there was a division of roles, access to the weapon, use of an illegally obtained vehicle with a partially concealed license plate, and preparation for escape.
Murder and the “message” effect
In his reasoning, the judge insists on one point: the killing was not "just" revenge for a death, but an act that re-establishes hierarchies, reputation, and the ability to dominate, within a context in which silence and fear are considered structural factors.
The intercepted voices
But beyond the images, there are wiretaps (both telephone and environmental) that implicate the participants in the deadly ambush. One in particular, from May 8, 2025, at the "Madonna di Pompei" club in Piazza Sanità.
“On the white half… that's Vincenzo”
In a conversation while discussing the arrests and searches, one of those present links the image in the circulating videos to Brandi's identity: "They show that thing... when they drive around... that's Vincenzo!" In the same exchange, the scooter and its connection to a person called "Lello" are also mentioned: "Because that scooter Vincenzo was holding belongs to 'Lello'... Lollo."
“Totore brings the vehicle… and Vincenzo Brandi is behind it.”
In another exchange—again while reviewing a video—they describe a scene as if it were a spoken caption: "Totore leads the vehicle, the Polish man behind. The white vehicle: Vincenzo Brandi... do you see him?" And when one tries to suggest a chance presence, the other cuts him off, ruling out the idea of a fortuitous "crossing" and reiterating the direction of the observed movement.
In the ensuing conversation, in addition to the harsh remarks about the context and responsibilities, a typical element of the street emerges when the Carabinieri arrive: the discussion of "how they will tell it" in court. One speaker even suggests, in the form of a hypothetical story, that the version to be given might be that of a degenerate argument and a robbery gone wrong, thus reducing the sentence, while the other speaker insists on the risk also faced by the girlfriend in the car at the time of the shooting.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
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