Some crimes never expire. Not for the State, whose investigations can last decades, and certainly not for the Camorra. A twenty-year-long trail of blood emerges from the latest documents in the investigation into the powerful Mazzarella clan, decapitated on Easter Eve with the arrest of its regent, Roberto Mazzarella, found after more than a year on the run in the luxury of an exclusive resort in Vietri sul Mare.
But behind the boss's downfall, the prosecutor's files tell a much more visceral story: a mother's obsession and the clear-eyed, ruthless desire to avenge the death of Antonio Maione, murdered in December 2000 in a delicatessen in Ponticelli. A brutal crime, orchestrated to punish the affront of Ivan Maione (the victim's brother and later a cooperating witness), guilty of killing Roberto Mazzarella's father.
Since that December, "pazzignana" Vincenza Maione has had only one obsession: striking at the hearts of the families of those who ordered and executed the crime. An eye for an eye, a child for a child. Her sights were on Roberto Mazzarella's firstborn and the blood of Clemente Amodio, believed to be one of the actual killers.
The Elephant Spear and the obsession with revenge
The Pandora's box of this long manhunt has been opened by the statements of the informants contained in the custody order signed by investigating judge Nicola Marrone, which first led to the fugitive status and then the arrest of boss Roberto Mazzarella. Among these, the explosive statements of the collaborator of justice Tommaso Schisa (son of the Pazzignana Luisa De Stefano who also became a collaborator of justice) stand out. Schisa is not just any informer: he is a piece of criminal history on those streets, closely linked to the victim's family.
Recorded by the magistrates, Schisa recounts the genesis and details of this long-unfinished, yet never-given-up revenge. And he does so with the coolness of someone who grew up with its logic:
"In my family, including my cousin Vincenza Maione and Michele Minichini, there was constant talk, at least since 2016, of eliminating a relative of Clemente Amodio. His brother, if I'm not mistaken, who worked at the San Giovanni cemetery [...] From the day Antonio was killed, the family immediately began to think of revenge against Amodio, as it was immediately known that he was among the perpetrators of the murder."
But revenge isn't always a dish best served cold. Sometimes, it's consumed in the heat of a chance encounter on the streets of San Giovanni a Teduccio. Schisa reveals an almost cinematic backstory, starring his mother, Luisa De Stefano:
Some time after the murder, my mother hit Clemente Amodio with her car, after meeting him by chance. Mom told me he was riding a scooter and that she, with her "honest" car, a sea-green Lancia Elefantino, lifted him into the air. I don't know if he was injured, or if anyone intervened.
«To remove our blood from the ground»
For years, the plan to systematically eliminate their enemies was thwarted by criminal realpolitik: the delicate alliances between the Mazzarella and Sarno clans could not be compromised. "We had so many murders to commit," the informer Schisa candidly admits, describing an all-too-full agenda of death.
But Vincenza Maione wasn't having it. As the collaborator reports, the woman repeated an old Camorra adage like a mantra: "We have to get our blood off the ground."
Thus, in 2016, the actual stakeouts began. Vincenza, along with her brother Ivan (who had temporarily returned to Campania) and armed with a pistol ready to fire, scoured the area of the San Giovanni cemetery in a gray Renault or her daughter's Fiat Panda. They were looking for Amodio's brother, as he was untouchable behind bars. Only chance, and the failure to locate the target, prevented a bloodbath.
The Hollywood Bar Ambush and the Pirate's Peace
Tensions reached a peak between 2017 and 2018, when the new generation took up arms. Fiore Maione, son of the late Antonio, decided to take justice into his own hands. Flanked by Alessio Bossis (later killed in Volla in 2022), he armed himself heavily.
"Fiore...went to San Giorgio a Cremano armed with a .357 Magnum pistol, which was mine and was kept in Ponticelli," Schisa recounted in his statement. "He was supposed to shoot Roberto Mazzarella's son...precisely because my mother and Maione had explained to him that Mazzarella was among the perpetrators of the murder."
The ambush, discovered by investigators on July 5, 2018, in front of the "Bar Hollywood" on Via Botteghelle in San Giorgio a Cremano, resulted in a hail of lead shot at eye level fired from a high-powered motorcycle at Salvatore Mazzarella and Gabriele Amodio. After the fatal blow failed, the Mazzarellas responded swiftly and in true paranzanza style: a mob of four or five scooters descended on the De Gasperi district. Fiore Maione was stabbed in the arm.
Salvatore D'Amico, known as the Pirate, the leader of San Giovanni a Teduccio, is the one who prevents eastern Naples from becoming an open-air slaughterhouse. He calls a peace summit at his home with the women of his family.
The death trap and silent consent in prison
But how did Antonio Maione die? The preliminary investigations judge's order leaves no room for doubt: premeditation aggravated by mafia methods. The crime wasn't the result of a chance encounter. Maione was lured to the delicatessen by false friends, companions with whom until recently he had been sharing joints in the Ponticelli square. A deadly trap, set in an area where the Mazzarellas held absolute control, cut off any escape route through the back room.
Closing the circle, years later, is another high-profile informer: Umberto D'Amico, a member of the eponymous clan and nephew of the Pirate. He is the one who provides investigators with the final piece of the puzzle, recounting a chilling face-to-face encounter that took place in 2019 behind bars in Secondigliano prison.
On that occasion, the Pirate turned to Clemente Amodio, reproaching him for having just saved the life of his son Gabriele from the vengeful fury of the Maiones: "Your son risked dying because of you, because you killed Antonio Maione."
Amodio offered no denial to those heavy words. He didn't defend himself, he didn't deny responsibility for that crime, which had occurred nineteen years earlier. He simply nodded, expressing thanks. A silent assent that, for the preliminary investigations judge, today takes on the unequivocal value of an extrajudicial confession. The tombstone on a cold Camorra case that held an entire quadrant of the city hostage for over two decades.
In short
There are accounts that never expire.
- Not for the State, whose investigations can last decades, and certainly not for the Camorra.
- A twenty-year-long trail of blood emerges from the latest documents in the investigation into the powerful Mazzarella clan, beheaded…
- But behind the boss's downfall, the prosecutor's office's files tell a much more visceral story: a mother's obsession...
Key questions
What is the main point of the news?
There are accounts that never expire.
Why is this news relevant?
Not for the State, whose investigations can last decades, and certainly not for the Camorra.
Which detail helps us understand the case better?
A twenty-year-long trail of blood emerges from the latest documents in the investigation into the powerful Mazzarella clan, beheaded on Easter Eve...
The article attempts to summarize the facts, but several doubts and, above all, many inconsistencies remain. The wiretaps appear to confirm but are not always accurate. There are poorly written passages and confusing names. The reconstruction appears complex and fragmented. In any case, the circumstantial evidence seems consistent, but more details and sources need to be clarified.