Naples: The drug dealing feud behind Raffaele Cinque's murder

Naples – The State Police have closed the loop on the alleged perpetrators of the murder of Raffaele Cinque, killed on January 21, 2024. During the night, on behalf of the Public Prosecutor's Office and coordinated by the Naples District Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA), officers executed a precautionary detention order against three individuals, all with serious criminal records.

The charges, to varying degrees, are aggravated homicide and illegal possession of weapons, crimes aggravated by mafia methods and premeditation.

The dynamics: the dawn raid and the escape

The investigation conducted by the Flying Squad has allowed them to reconstruct, step by step, the dramatic moments of that January dawn. It was 6:00 a.m. when a commando, composed of four people armed with at least two pistols, broke into the victim's home on Via Dello Scirocco, in the Poggioreale neighborhood.

Confronted by the hitmen, who immediately opened fire, firing several shots, Cinque attempted a desperate escape by climbing down from the kitchen balcony. His attempt to escape the ambush, however, ended with a disastrous fall to the ground.

It was at that moment that the man, already wounded, was reached by the killers who fired the fatal shot in the head. Examinations confirmed that, of the nine bullets fired by the commando, two struck the victim, one in the abdomen and one in the skull, causing his death.

The motive: the management of drug dealing areas

According to investigators, the brutal crime was not an impulsive act, but a premeditated act for trivial reasons, intended to facilitate the criminal activities of the Contini clan. Raffaele Cinque, already known to law enforcement for organized crime, was believed to be an integral part of the criminal group operating in the Stadera area, also in Poggioreale.

The murder is the bloody culmination of a series of disputes over the management of illicit activities, particularly drug dealing. The tensions allegedly pitted Cinque against the leaders of the Bove family, known in criminal circles as "Polpetta," which runs drug trafficking on Via Dello Scirocco, closely connected to the Stadera gang.

Searches in the neighborhood

The investigation did not stop with the identification of the three alleged perpetrators (while the hunt for the fourth member of the gang is closing in). This morning, in parallel with the execution of precautionary measures, the State Police sealed off the Poggioreale neighborhood, conducting a wide-ranging series of targeted searches. The checks yielded positive results, allowing investigators to acquire additional evidence useful for consolidating the prosecution's case and targeting the logistical networks of the criminal groups involved.