Napolitano Store, from the TikTok spotlight to the preliminary hearing: the entrepreneur heads to trial.

This marks the transition from the investigative phase to the trial. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled before the Court of Nola for Angelo Napolitano, 47, a Casalnuovo entrepreneur who has become extremely popular on social media with the Napolitano Store brand.

Preliminary Investigating Judge Gemma Sicoli issued the order following the request for indictment submitted by Deputy Prosecutors Francesco Riccio and Anna Musso. The background lies in the two investigative lines developed by the Guardia di Finanza, focusing on the management of Am Distribution Srl, a company active in the wholesale trade of cell phones and household appliances.

It should be remembered that the charge remains a challenge by the Prosecutor's Office and will need to be verified in the subsequent stages of the proceedings. Napolitano is therefore considered not guilty until a final sentence is issued.

Meanwhile, for several months now, the entrepreneur and his family have been living in the “buen retiro” of Sharm El Sheik together with his friend and controversial social influencer Rita De Crecsenzo, where he has set up a restaurant and from where he continues his activity as a titk toker.

The mechanism contested by the Prosecutor's Office

According to the investigative reconstruction, the commercial system was built on a distinction between formally recorded sales and retail sales which, according to investigators, were shielded through a complex tax mechanism.

The crux of the investigation concerns allegations of fraudulent tax returns using other means, relating to the 2023 and 2024 tax years.

According to the prosecution, the company allegedly disguised some sales as wholesale transactions subject to different tax treatment, using invoices issued to companies deemed by investigators to be non-operational. Actual sales to private individuals, however, were made at particularly competitive prices, with cash payment required.

A system that, according to the Prosecutor's Office, would have allowed the goods to be moved and accounted for as they left the warehouses without recording the entire proceeds for tax purposes.

The "Avellino shirts" and the double price list

One of the most distinctive elements that emerged from the investigation is the language used to refer to cash.

In conversations brought to the attention of investigators, the one hundred euro bills were reportedly referred to as "Avellino T-shirts," while Napolitano himself had become a recurring subject on social media, referring to "crisps," another term used to refer to cash payments.

The story had already received widespread media coverage in February 2025, when Striscia la Notizia devoted a story to the so-called "double price list" at Napolitano Store. According to the program's documentation, some products were offered at a lower price for cash payments than for payments with traceable methods.

It is precisely this element that would later become one of the central points of the investigative reconstruction.

Five million and 7 in disputed VAT

The investigation's figures are impressive. For 2023, investigators allege unpaid VAT of €1.777.976; for 2024, the figure is €3.962.585.
Overall, the cost comes to approximately 5,7 million euros.

This reconstruction, as reported by the newspaper Il Roma on newsstands, is part of a context of significant growth in the company's business: according to ANSA, the company's turnover has increased from 2,2 million euros in 2017 to 20,8 million in 2023.

The first major seizure: 5,74 million euros

The first sensational judicial breakthrough comes on September 17, 2025.
The Guardia di Finanza executed a precautionary seizure order aimed at confiscating €5.740.561 from the company and its legal representative. The assets seized included a property in Naples and a 16,5-meter yacht, which were formally registered to third parties but, according to investigators, were owned by the entrepreneur. The order was subsequently confirmed by the Court of Review.

The kidnapping comes as Napolitano's name has already become one of the most recognizable on the Campania social media scene.

From the Store to TikTok: Building Your Character

His fame, however, didn't stem from the investigation. Napolitano built his public image around the sale of smartphones, televisions, and appliances, promoted daily through social media. Short videos, offers, particularly aggressive prices, jokes, and direct language became the ingredients of a commercial format capable of transforming the store owner into a veritable celebrity.

In September 2025, Sky described him as an entrepreneur with over 415 followers on TikTok; other reports published around the time of his kidnapping reported a total audience of over hundreds of thousands of users across the various platforms.

The advertising of the business thus ends up coinciding with the construction of the character: Napolitano is not only the owner of the store, but becomes the face of the store.
The "Striscia la Notizia" case

His fame exploded further in February 2025.

A Striscia la Notizia report, produced by Luca Abete, sheds light on Napolitano Store's sales practices and alleged dual pricing. The iPhone 16 case is a case in point: according to the report, the price listed for cash payments was €750, while the price for credit cards rose to €900.

The television broadcast thus brought to the general public a dynamic that until then had been mainly a social phenomenon.

Napolitano responded through his own channels, asserting the integrity of his actions and announcing his intention to demonstrate his legitimacy.

The video with Rita De Crescenzo and politics

Then comes the episode that definitively transforms the businessman-influencer into a national news figure.

It was August 8, 2025 when Napolitano appeared together with TikToker Rita De Crescenzo in the offices of the Campania Regional Council, in the room of then-councilor Pasquale Di Fenza.

The two sang Mameli's national anthem while waving the Italian flag. The video quickly went viral and sparked a heated political controversy. Di Fenza, a member of Azione, was subsequently expelled from the party.

This marks a turning point in Napolitano's media career: the face of commercial deals enters the political and institutional news cycle.

And just a few weeks later, his name is back on the front pages, this time due to a judicial investigation.

The second seizure and the crackdown on shops

On January 14, 2026, a new order was issued. The Guardia di Finanza seized the entire business assets of the company that manages the Napolitano Stores. The new order, issued by the Nola investigating judge at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, follows developments in the investigation and the previous seizure of €5,74 million.

According to investigators, the alleged conduct continued even after the first precautionary measure. The new seizure is therefore considered a measure to impede the company's operations.

This is the moment when the tax investigation turns into a direct blow to the heart of the business.

The social response: "We'll get through this too."

Once again, Napolitano chose to respond through social media. In a video posted on TikTok, set to the Rocky soundtrack, the entrepreneur informed his followers of the store closures and assured them that the business would survive that phase as well.

This is an element that captures the character's trajectory well: even when faced with a judicial order, his main communication tool remains the same one that made him popular.
Now the game moves to the court

With the request for indictment and the setting of the preliminary hearing, the case now enters a different phase.

The Prosecutor's Office aims to bring to trial the charges built through tax audits, accounting documentation, wiretaps, and other investigative evidence. The defense, represented by lawyers Rocco Maria Spina and Teodoro Reppucci, has announced a no-choice approach: the goal is to reach a trial to challenge the prosecution's reconstruction of the case and subject the entire investigative framework to judicial review.

The character's story, therefore, enters a new phase: one in which the popularity built on the web is replaced by confrontation with the investigation documents and, above all, with a judge.
According to Napolitano, the next video won't be filmed in a store or on a smartphone for promotion. The legal proceedings will determine whether the prosecutor's charges stand up to scrutiny.