Caivano, the repentant speaks about the Bronx feud and the rise of Roberto Maugeri.

Caivano – "Those people aren't stupid, they're not stupid... If it weren't for this Mario thing, you would have gotten in there and beaten Pezzella." Voices overlap in Roberto Alfio Maugeri's living room, while the judicial police's bugs record every breath, every insult, every angry spit.

In the heart of the Bronx neighborhood of Caivano. Outside, the streets are a powder keg, controlled inch by inch by the clans; inside, behind the armored walls of house arrest, a showdown for drug leadership unfolds. A tale of jammed guns, drug dealing hubs fought over meter by meter, and betrayals committed in the shadow of the Tibiuccio dome.

The repentant's revelations: the map of the squares and the trail of blood

Domenico Bervicato, a collaborator with the justice system, revealed the workings of the clan. In the reports filed by the Naples Prosecutor's Office, the informer outlines the new criminal geography following the June 2023 raids that decapitated the Tibiuccio group. "I asked Salvatore Giordano who was maintaining the group after the arrests," Domenico Bervicato stated, "and he replied that Angelino's clan could count on Gianfranco Bervicato, Roberto Maugeri, and other individuals."

The rise of Robertino Maugeri, 34, nephew and loyal follower of imprisoned boss Raffaele Zampella (known as Lello), was meteoric. After the latter's arrest, Maugeri took over the entire drug empire, personally supplying the hot spots in Caivano: from the M'bond o'vico ring run by Alessandro Trisbaldo and the mysterious O're, to the ring of Antonio Di Micco, known as Pesecca, to the Frangettella ring run by Biagio and Francesco D'Angelo, and to the positions of Peppe a' rana and Antimo o' biondo.

But alongside Maugeri, as the collaborator reiterates, is Gianfranco Bervicato (born in 1992, originally from Maddaloni). It's a ruthless and armed partnership, where the gang constantly walks with a gun in their pockets to defend their monopoly on the white powder.

The jammed gun and the April precedents: Luigi Natale's revenge

The atmosphere in the alleys has been unbearable for some time. The cooperating witness details a key incident that occurred in April 2022, when a punitive expedition nearly turned into a full-blown Camorra execution.

The motive? A serious offense related to cocaine supplies. Luigi Natale, known as "wooden leg," the owner of a local drug dealing ring that paid fees to the Zambella-Tibiuccio clan, had been savagely beaten by a hit squad composed of Lello Zambella, Roberto Maugeri, Alessandro Maugeri (known as "o' Siciliano"), and a Prece family affiliate known as "il ciucciaro." Natale's offense was unforgivable by the clan's rules: buying "under the counter," obtaining only part of his supplies from official sources.

Determined to wash away the shame with blood, Natale arms himself with a pistol, slips into the Bronx, and aims straight at Alessandro and Roberto Maugeri's heads. Robertino's escape is a miracle: Natale's gun jams right at the crucial moment, firing only at Alessandro, who is wounded. Immediately afterward, the improvised vigilante is intercepted again and beaten to death by Salvatore Giordano, Antonio Ferraiolo, known as Cuppetiello, Francesco D'Angelo, known as Nanetto, and Lello Zambella himself, ending up in the hospital.

The ambush of December 21, 2023: the manhunt

The simmering tension erupted dramatically on December 21, 2023. It was 13:20 PM on Via Santa Barbara, near a bar, when two people riding Gianfranco Bervicato's Gilera scooter were intercepted by a commando on high-powered motorcycles. One of the pursuers pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at Bervicato's head in a nightmarish split second. The two targets managed to escape on foot, abandoning the scooter, but Mario Marzaiuolo paid the highest price, suffering a brutal physical attack.

Shortly thereafter, Marzaiuolo presented himself to the emergency room at Cardarelli Hospital with a smashed head: doctors certified a "cranial trauma with a compound fracture of the frontal bone and involvement of the roof of the orbit," suturing a deep lacerated wound. To explain the bruises and the twenty-day prognosis, Marzaiuolo tried to fabricate the story of a trivial car accident, but wiretaps resoundingly contradicted the official version.

The summit at the home of the young boss under house arrest

In the home of Roberto Maugeri, who is under house arrest, hours of extreme tension unfold. His loyalists, including Giuseppe Tammaro (known as Pinuccio), Gennaro Laurino, and Amilcare Cervo (known as the "gemell"), rally around the faction leader. They debate whether to come to a deal—perhaps offering their opponents the management of the Pascarola square at a preferential price—or to unleash all-out war.

"Roberto, who wants to deal with these people? You're losing your mind! It's your fault this happened," shouts Pinuccio Tammaro, blaming Maugeri for his handling of the affront suffered by Francesco Pezzella, identified as the perpetrator of the attack along with Giovanni Barra (who later became a penitent) and Alberto Russo (or the devil).

The debate heats up over the methods to adopt. Some call for an immediate punitive expedition: "Go give him 4-5 slaps in front of everyone, and kill him in Pezzella!" But the handbrake of criminal caution immediately kicks in, a grotesque paradox that reveals the clans' weaknesses: "Not by smashing his head in, because his wife said she'd report us! If his wife goes to the police, they'll arrest us all." Maugeri, though furious, acknowledges the insurmountable obstacle: "She's not thinking about him, she's thinking about her children. She has four small children."

Amidst repeated death threats, speakerphone calls interrupted by scathing insults, and the firm resolve not to give in to rivals led by Pezzella, the investigation closes circle. Investigations into phone records, the fictitious registrations of the mopeds—such as the Honda stolen and falsely registered the same day to cover up the ambush—and the statements of the informants nail Francesco Pezzella and paint a snapshot of a ruthless Camorra, torn apart by internal feuds and forced to face justice.

The family relationship between Raffaele Zambella and the Maugeri family is structured as follows:

Basic relationship and main core

Zambella Raffaele is Maugeri Carmela's partner.

Carmela Maugeri's brothers and sisters
Carmela Maugeri has four brothers/sisters (children of the same father, Maugeri Alfio, 89 years old): two sons aged 51 and 34 and two sisters aged 47 and 43.

Carmela Maugeri's Stepbrothers
From a previous relationship, Alfio had two other children, aged 60 and 56, both born in Catania. The first is the father of Roberto Alfio and Emanuele Angelo.

Finally, Carmela Maugeri's 47-year-old sister is registered as married to Marzaiuolo Mario, but in reality she is the partner of Tammaro Giuseppe (known as Pino).

(pictured from left: repentant Domenico Bervicato, Roberto Zambella, Roberto Alfio Maugeri, Emanuele Angelo Maugeri, Gianfranco Bervicato, Amilcare Cervo, and Alfonso Giordano)