The Ercolano feud sparks a sensational Supreme Court decision: the 20-year sentence is overturned, and killer Di Bartolomeo is freed.

A verdict that sets an unprecedented precedent in the annals of Italian justice. The First Criminal Section of the Court of Cassation has accepted, for the fourth time, the appeal filed by criminal lawyer Dario Vannetiello, overturning the 20-year prison sentence handed down to Giorgio Di Bartolomeo for the murder of Carlo Polese.

The events date back to August 19, 2003, at the height of the bloody Camorra feud between the Ascione and Birra clans: Polese was killed while, together with four other comrades, he was trying to climb over the wall surrounding Di Bartolomeo's home to launch an ambush against him.

The wall of thirteen repentants crumbled in the Chamber

What makes the Supreme Court's decision exceptional is the weight of the prosecution's case, which until now had relied on the consistent statements of thirteen collaborators of justice, all ready to point to Di Bartolomeo as the material perpetrator of the crime.

The defense's forceful arguments, however, once again highlighted the critical legal and logical flaws of the ruling issued by the Fourth Section of the Naples Court of Assizes of Appeal. This legal offensive prompted the Supreme Court not only to overturn the appeal decision, but also to simultaneously order the immediate release of the defendant, already known to the judicial press for a previous conviction for mafia association within the Ascione clan.

A quarter-century-long mystery

Ten years after the first-instance verdict and nearly twenty-five years after the bloodshed at Ercolano, the trial reopens. The Neapolitan judiciary will now be called upon for the fifth time to assess the credibility of the thirteen informants, amidst a judicial puzzle that continues to spark controversy.