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The final sentence

The Supreme Court of Cassation has put an end to the Montanino-Salierno double homicide: three alleged instigators of the Scampia feud have been definitively acquitted.

Judicial Chronicle
The Supreme Court declares the appeal of the Attorney General's Office inadmissible and makes the acquittals pronounced in the second appeal trial definitive.
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In the photo Raffaele Abbinante, Francesco Abbinante and Vincenzo Pariante
In the photo Raffaele Abbinante, Francesco Abbinante and Vincenzo Pariante
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Double Homicide Montanino Salierno The Supreme Court Puts an End to the Case Three Alleged Instigators of the Scampia Feud Definitively Acquitted 2026 07 11
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There are trials that tell the story of a single crime. And there are others that end up recounting an entire criminal era. The case of the double homicide of Fulvio Montanino and Claudio Salierno undoubtedly belongs to the second category.

The decision of the First Criminal Section of the Court of Cassation definitively closes one of the longest and most complex judicial chapters in the history of the Neapolitan Camorra. The judges declared the appeal of the Attorney General's Office inadmissible, making the acquittals of Raffaele Abbinante, his son Francesco Abbinante, and Vincenzo Pariante irrevocable. They were accused of being among the instigators of the ambush that marked the beginning of the first Scampia feud.

The curtain has thus definitively fallen for the three defendants after more than two decades of trials, life sentences, Supreme Court overturns, new trials, and constant reversals.

That October 28, 2004 that changed the criminal balance forever

To understand the weight of the sentence, we must go back to October 28, 2004, when an armed commando intercepted Fulvio Montanino, considered Cosimo Di Lauro's most trusted collaborator, and his uncle Claudio Salierno, on Via Roma, towards Scampia.

Both were murdered in a carefully planned ambush.

Montanino wasn't just a member. He was considered Cosimo Di Lauro's "operational arm," the territorial commander, the man in charge of managing the clan's affairs while Paolo Di Lauro was a fugitive and his son Cosimo led the organization.

For the investigators, hitting Montanino meant striking directly at the heart of the Di Lauro family's power.

It was precisely that double homicide that opened the definitive rift between the Di Lauro clan and the men led by Raffaele Amato, Cesare Pagano and the other future leaders of the so-called Scissione.

The birth of the first feud in Scampia

Until then, the Scissionisti had been an integral part of the Di Lauro organization. The split arose over control of drug dealing areas and dissent towards the increasingly centralized management of the clan.

Montanino's assassination marked the point of no return. Within weeks, the northern area of ​​Naples was plunged into an unprecedented war.

The first Scampia feud resulted in dozens of murders, armed raids, daylight executions, and a long trail of blood that also involved people outside the clans. Entire families were forced to abandon their homes, especially in the Case Celesti, while the state was forced to massively strengthen its law enforcement presence in the area. That war reshaped the balance of power within the Neapolitan Camorra and marked the rise of the Scissionisti cartel.

The stories of collaborators of justice

A significant portion of the investigation relied on the testimony of numerous collaborators of justice. Among them was Luigi Secondo, whose testimony formed one of the cornerstones of the prosecution.

The informer said that Montanino's elimination had been planned for over a month and that there had been at least three failed attempts before the successful ambush.

According to his reconstruction, some leaders of the Scissione believed that eliminating Cosimo Di Lauro's main confidant would force Paolo Di Lauro, then a fugitive, to come out into the open and personally regain control of the organization.

The plan, however, had a different effect: instead of bringing the clan back together, it sparked the bloodiest internal war in the contemporary Camorra.

The long procedural process

The investigation brought dozens of members of the Scissionisti cartel before the judges. In 2017, the first very serious sentences arrived: the Naples Assize Court handed down fourteen life sentences to the defendants held responsible for the double homicide.

In 2019, the Court of Cassation finalized the convictions of the main leaders of the Split.

Those sentenced to life imprisonment included:

Cesare Pagano, historical head of the Amato-Pagano clan;
Carmine Pagano;
Archangel Fir;
Antonio Della Corte;
Angelo Marino;
Gennaro Marino;
Ciro Mauriello;
Enzo Notturno.

21-year sentences were instead confirmed for Rito Calzone, Roberto Manganiello, Francesco Barone and Ferdinando Emolo, the latter a member of the Di Lauro clan and held responsible for other crimes aggravated by mafia motives.

For Raffaele Amato, the historic leader of the Scissione known as “'a Vecchiarella”, the life sentence was instead annulled and the sentence was re-determined to twenty years of imprisonment.

The trial of the alleged instigators

The legal case of Raffaele Abbinante, Francesco Abbinante, and Vincenzo Pariante, however, was different. They too were initially sentenced to life imprisonment, both at first instance and on appeal.

However, the Supreme Court of Cassation ordered an initial annulment and referral. After a new trial, the Court of Assizes of Appeal once again upheld the life sentence.

The defense attorneys, Claudio Davino and Antonella Genovino, filed a further appeal. It was precisely this second intervention by the Supreme Court that radically changed the course of the proceedings.

The judges accepted the defense's complaints, annulled the sentence again and ordered a new trial before a different section of the Court of Assizes of Appeal.

The trial culminated in a dramatic turn of events: the acquittal of the three defendants due to insufficient evidence. The Attorney General's Office attempted to overturn the decision by appealing once again to the Supreme Court of Cassation.

With yesterday's verdict, however, the Supreme Court declared the appeal inadmissible, thus making the acquittals irrevocable and definitively closing one of the most symbolic trials in the history of the Neapolitan Camorra.

Related article: We've covered this topic more extensively in this article: The First Scampia Feud: Background, Impact, and Significance in the History of the Neapolitan Camorra.

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The article attempts to tell a difficult story, but many unanswered questions remain. The trials continued for years, and the judges changed their decisions several times. The evidence seemed fragile, and witnesses said contradictory things. The acquittals are now definitive, but the historical picture of the Neapolitan Camorra remains incomplete, and the community awaits clearer explanations.

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