Boss Salvatore Fido managed fuel smuggling for the Mazzarella clan.

Naples – No longer just drug dealing hubs or door-to-door extortion. The latest frontier of illicit business for Neapolitan organized crime runs through the pipelines of fuel depots. A seemingly clean business, but capable of moving millions of liters of energy products while completely evading taxes, turning "black gold" into a veritable gold mine for the clans' coffers.

The Guardia di Finanza of the Caserta Provincial Command was the one to successfully arrest the organization, as part of a major operation directed and coordinated by the Naples District Anti-Mafia Directorate (Area 1, under the leadership of Deputy Prosecutor Sergio Amato).

The precautionary measure issued by the Naples Review Court became final on July 15, 2026, following the ruling of the Court of Cassation, which rejected the appeals and sent those at the top of the illicit chain to prison.

Traffic map and surrender after fleeing to Greece

The investigation reconstructed the structure of a syndicate deeply rooted in Campania and equipped with a first-rate logistics network. The gang maintained direct channels with both national and EU fuel suppliers.

The energy product, imported without paying a single euro of excise duty or VAT, was stored and released onto the market through compliant roadside distributors and commercial warehouses, ready to sell the goods "under the table" without any tax inspection. The accounting figures verified by the Finance Police outline a financial operation of enormous proportions: during the investigation, 133.796 liters of fuel were seized, but the extent of the fraud discovered exceeds 10,1 million liters of fuel evaded from taxes, resulting in estimated financial losses of nearly 8 million euros in evaded excise duty and VAT.

At the center of the indictment are three well-known figures in the Neapolitan criminal landscape: Salvatore Fido, known as 'o chiò, a top figure in the Mazzarella clan; Gabriele Amodio, son of boss Clemente Amodio (both are charged with criminal conspiracy to smuggle fuel, aggravated by mafia involvement); and Giuseppe Savino, close to the Formicola clan's top brass and under investigation for mafia-type association.

While the first two were immediately executed, Savino attempted a final escape route to Greece in an attempt to evade the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). His fugitive status, however, ended on August 25, when he surrendered voluntarily at the gates of Secondigliano prison.

The Criminal Profile: Who is Salvatore Fido 'o chiò?

Among the figures that emerged from the investigation, the name with the greatest strategic and criminal importance is undoubtedly that of Salvatore Fido, known in the San Giovanni a Teduccio area by the pseudonym 'o chiò. Despite his young age—born in 1987—Fido served for years as the regent and operational arm of the Mazzarella clan.

Considered a high-profile figure with strong military and strategic expertise, 'o chiò hit the headlines in the fall of 2018. At the time, after months of being untraceable, marked by constant movements to evade law enforcement, officers from the Naples Flying Squad and the SCO tracked him down inside a bunker-like villa in Giugliano in Campania.

Investigators identified him as one of the masterminds of the bloody feud against the Rinaldi clan of San Giovanni a Teduccio, orchestrators of the infamous Camorra "stese" (police attacks) through the streets of the historic center and eastern area of ​​Naples.

Capable of navigating the most violent phases of territorial control through the complex channels of financial business, Fido's figure testifies to the metamorphosis of the Mazzarella clan: an organization that, while maintaining a military presence on the streets, has diversified its revenues by investing illicit capital in highly profitable legal markets, such as petroleum products and carousel fraud.

Further confirmation of how "black gold" has become a favorite asset of new business mafias.