Camorra: The viceroy of the secessionists is freed: the life sentence for the son-in-law of boss Amato has been cancelled.

Naples – The release order arrived in the early afternoon, straight to the maximum security prison in Milan-Opera. Raffaele Teatro, one of the leading names in the criminal firmament of the Secondigliano "Scissionisti" (separationists) gang, is no longer a prisoner under the 41bis regime.

The third criminal section of the Naples Court of Assizes of Appeal overturned the two previous levels of judgment, acquitting him of the most serious charge: being the instigator of the ruthless murder of Francesco Feldi, committed on February 19, 2011, in the heart of the Berlingieri neighborhood. This ruling abolishes his life sentence and represents a judicial earthquake for anti-mafia prosecutors, reopening the investigation into the control of drug dealing hubs in the northern area.

The Berlingieri District ambush and the drug war

To understand the weight of this acquittal, we need to go back fifteen years, when the Maranesi and Scissionisti were redrawing the drug trafficking map in blood. Francesco Feldi was no ordinary target: a former loyalist of the powerful Licciardi clan of Masseria Cardone, he had later joined the ranks of the Sacco-Bocchetti clan. A significant switch of allegiance, aimed at securing their monopoly on the drug market in San Pietro a Patierno.

On February 19, 2011, the commando swung into action with no escape route. According to prosecutors' reconstructions, the killers Giovanni Illiano and Mirko Romano pulled the trigger. A perfect, or nearly perfect, crime, planned—according to the initial prosecution's case—by the very leaders of the Amato-Pagano clan to nip in the bud any attempt by Feldi to achieve commercial independence.

From the "Melito Group" to the clan's top brass: Who is Raffaele Teatro?

But who is the man who today has broken down the doors of the harsh prison system? Raffaele Teatro is no ordinary member; he is a Camorra nobility by right of marriage. By marrying the daughter of Raffaele Amato, the legendary "Spagnuolo" (Spanishman) who in 2004 led the secession from the Di Lauro family, sparking the first, devastating Scampia feud, Teatro has effectively entered the clan's upper echelons.

Having started out as a leading figure in the so-called “Melito Group,” Teatro rose through the ranks over the years thanks to his strong organizational skills in handling large cocaine shipments and his military-style management of the territory.

When the historic leaders ended up behind bars, it fell to him and a few other trusted regents to firmly hold the reins of a financial empire that linked the Neapolitan hinterland to Spain. A criminal escalation that had earned him a life sentence in the first two levels of trial, reinforced by a seemingly insurmountable prosecution case.

The statements of the informants and the move by the Prosecutor's Office

Teatro was incriminated by the damning statements of collaborators with justice. At the forefront was Giovanni Illiano, the actual perpetrator of the Feldi murder, who described in detail the decision-making process for the murder, supported by the confessions of the clan's three gunsmiths: Michele Caiazza and the Annunziata brothers.

The trial seemed to be sealed until, on December 18, 2025, the Court of Cassation shuffled the cards, upholding the appeal of the defense team—comprised of lawyers Luigi Senese, Saverio Senese, Emilia Granata, and Andrea Di Lorenzo—and overturning the conviction with a remand. In this new appeal, the Attorney General's Office attempted a preemptive move, playing a last-minute ace: the unpublished statements of Alessandro De Cicco, a newly appointed informant, whose statements should have definitively sealed the guilt of the boss's son-in-law.

The verdict that undermines the accusation

The prosecution's request at the end of the closing argument was peremptory: confirmation of the never-ending sentence. Instead, the second-instance judges upheld the defense's arguments, finding the collaborators' claims regarding Teatro's role as the primary instigator of the crime to be evidently insufficiently substantiated or contradictory.

Today's acquittal doesn't put an end to the matter—the Attorney General's Office already has the option of appealing to the Supreme Court of Cassation—but it does shift the balance of events. Raffaele Teatro is leaving the Milan Opera House and returning to Naples. Free, for now, from the most infamous charge.