Former Marigliano Mayor Antonio Carpino turns himself in to prison and must serve a five-year and four-month sentence.

Former mayor of Marigliano, Antonio Carpino, has surrendered to prison to begin serving a final sentence of five years and four months for mafia-related vote-rigging. The sentence has become final following the ruling of the Court of Cassation.

This brings to a close, on a judicial level, a case that has spanned local politics, the 2015 local elections, and the investigations of the Naples Anti-Mafia Directorate into alleged connections between institutional representatives and organized crime circles active in the Marigliano area.

Carpino's legal history entered a crucial phase on July 21, 2020, when the Carabinieri executed a pre-trial detention order against him. The order also involved Luigi Esposito, known as 'o Sciamarro, identified by investigators as a key criminal figure in the Pontecitra area.

The 2015 elections and the hypothesis of a clan exchange

To understand the origins of the process, we need to go back to the 2015 election campaign, when Carpino ran for the leadership of the Municipality of Marigliano, supported by a center-left coalition.

The investigation by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate reconstructed an alleged network of relationships between the candidate and criminal circles rooted in the area, with particular reference to the Pontecitra neighborhood, characterized by the presence of public housing and a history of Camorra influence.

According to the prosecution's reconstruction, the electoral support would have been the subject of an illicit agreement: on the one hand, the ability to procure votes through people close to the criminal group; on the other, the prospect of obtaining money and benefits, including promises relating to economic and employment interests.

The investigative evidence included statements from several collaborators of justice, including Cristiano Piezzo, Massimo Pelliccia, and Tommaso Schisa. Their testimonies were used by investigators to reconstruct the relationships that, according to the prosecution, had surrounded the election.

The arrest of July 2020 and the end of the administrative experience

July 21, 2020, marked a turning point in Carpino's political and judicial history. Carabinieri officers from the Castello di Cisterna company executed the precautionary order issued by the investigating judge of the Court of Naples at the request of the Anti-Mafia Directorate.

The charges concerned political-mafia electoral exchange and electoral corruption aggravated by mafia methods, with reference to conduct that investigators placed between October 2014 and June 2015.

The measure also involved Luigi Esposito, already detained under the 41-bis regime. The investigation was based, among other things, on the statements of collaborators of justice who described alleged mechanisms for procuring consent.

The arrest came at a particularly sensitive time for city politics: Carpino had been tipped to run again in the local elections scheduled for September 2020. The precautionary measure put an end to that prospect and provoked a strong reaction in the local political landscape.

The first degree sentence: 6 years and 9 months

The proceedings reached an initial conclusion in 2023, when the Court sentenced Antonio Carpino to 6 years and 9 months in prison.

The decision was part of the prosecution's case involving the alleged electoral agreement with organized crime groups. Central to the trial was the reconstruction of the relationships that, according to the prosecution, allowed the electoral support to be linked to promises of benefits.

Luigi Esposito was also accused in the same proceedings, and the first instance sentence established a sentence of 7 years and 6 months.

Carpino's conviction marked a crucial step in a story that began with the investigation into the 2015 municipal elections and culminated, years later, in the criminal trial of the former administrator.

The Court of Appeal reduces the sentence, but confirms the conviction

The second level of judgment concluded in September 2025. The Court of Appeal of Naples reduced Carpino's sentence from 6 years and 9 months to 5 years and 4 months of imprisonment, without overturning the claim of responsibility for political-mafia electoral manipulation.

The reduction also affected Esposito's sentence, whose sentence went from 7 years and 6 months to 6 years.
Following the appeal ruling, Carpino's defense team, composed of lawyers Bruno Spiezia, Francesco Picca, and Aniello Quatrano, announced they would appeal to the Supreme Court. The defense therefore aimed to have the decision reviewed by the Supreme Court.
The appeal ruling did not yet constitute a definitive conviction: for a final judgment to be reached, the subsequent passage to the Supreme Court of Cassation was necessary.

The sentence and the entrance into prison

With the conviction now final, Carpino must now serve the remainder of the sentence established by the irrevocable sentence.
Being placed in prison therefore marks the transition to the executive phase of the sentence.