"Kill her and make her disappear": 20 euros to the boss to get rid of the ex who had reported him.

A ruthless execution, planned down to the smallest detail, and sold for the price of a small car. Twenty thousand euros to wipe out a life, five thousand already paid as a deposit to secure the blood pact. This is the macabre backstory revealed by the investigation coordinated by the Naples District Anti-Mafia Directorate and conducted by the Carabinieri of the Caserta Provincial Command, which, in the last resort, foiled the murder of a woman living in the Naples area.

The Preliminary Investigations Judge of Naples North has confirmed the pre-trial detention of all five suspects caught in the investigators' net. Among them are two key figures: Andrea Autiero, believed to be a leading figure in the "Scusuti" faction—a criminal group from Gricignano d'Aversa closely linked to the Casalesi clan—and Vincenzo Russo, 44, the victim's former partner and the alleged instigator of the crime.

Although the investigating judge did not validate the emergency arrests, forwarding the documents to the Naples Prosecutor's Office due to territorial jurisdiction, the strength of the prosecution's case required the suspects to remain in custody.

The killer's kit: cloned license plates, photos, and house keys.

The Carabinieri investigation, led by prosecutors Belluccio and Toscano under the supervision of Deputy Prosecutor Michele Del Prete, paints a dramatic picture of a hate crime combined with cynical Camorra operations. Autiero, having shed his clan leader's cloak for that of a hired assassin, had already set up the operational machinery.

Wiretaps and telephone conversations reveal the meticulous preparation of the attack: cars with cloned license plates to bypass electronic barriers, "intercoms" (disposable cell phones registered to front men) dedicated exclusively to the commando's communications, and specific dossiers on the victim.

"Kidnap her and stab her": the pact between the resentful ex and the boss

Russo had provided the killers with photographs, habits, and even the keys to the woman's home and car. The plan didn't just involve a quick kill: the woman was to be kidnapped, taken to an isolated location, stabbed to death, and then vanished into thin air, in the classic and ruthless style of the lupara bianca. A blind resentment, that of the ex-partner, already known to law enforcement and previously reported by the victim for stalking and revenge porn.

The trail of lead and the attack on the institutions

The investigation not only defused the ticking time bomb of femicide, but also helped piece together a broader criminal mosaic that bloodied the Agro Aversano area. The DDA also charges the group with the illegal possession of two firearms—a 7,65 caliber pistol and a 9x21—used last April 30 in a double punitive expedition.

On that occasion, a commando aboard high-powered motorcycles, their faces covered by full-face helmets, opened fire first on the home of a local businessman and, a few hours later, on the gas station owned by the family of Vittorio Lettieri, mayor of Gricignano d'Aversa. This was a clear message of intimidation aimed at the mayor, who was "guilty" of coordinating the redevelopment and upcoming inauguration—scheduled for June—of a property confiscated from the Camorra and previously owned by boss Andrea Autiero.

The clan's shadow and the decisive contribution of investigative reporting

Completing the picture of a complex and highly sensitive investigation is the information provided during the investigation by Marilena Natale, a court reporter who for years was forced to live under police protection for her investigations into the Casalesi clan. The information and details provided by the journalist proved invaluable to investigators in tracing Autiero's moves and closing the loop on the gang before the assassination plot was carried out.