Naples: 362-year prison sentence sought for '33' clan

Naples – The Anti-Mafia Prosecutor's Office has decided to spare no expense, bringing down its judicial axe on the new heirs of the Neapolitan mafia. Twenty-six defendants are on trial, with a total sentence approaching four hundred years, and the request for extremely severe sentences—up to twenty years in prison—for the alleged leaders of the criminal holding company that governs drug trafficking between Scampia and Miano.

The first-degree trial, conducted with a summary procedure, is now approaching its final stages, held before investigating judge Grammatica. Deputy Prosecutor Lucio Giugliano's closing statement crystallized a body of evidence considered rock-solid by investigators. The accused are both new faces and old masterminds of a multi-faceted criminal system, capable of moving tons of narcotics and dividing up multi-million dollar market shares under the aegis of historic splinter cartels.

The roots of the investigation and the drug dealing map

The operation that now threatens to overwhelm the criminal syndicates stems from a year of intensive field investigations conducted by the Flying Squad (Narcotics Section) and the Scampia Police Station. Months of wiretaps, shadowing, and constant monitoring have allowed them to map the beating heart of the drug market, concentrated primarily in the infamous "33" on Via Ghisleri.

Not just fixed drug dealing hubs, but a full-fledged illicit business system that evolved into home deliveries and quick street appointments, extending from historic neighborhoods like Chiaiano to the Colli Aminei. A multi-million dollar business whose profits served to support the families of imprisoned members and to replenish the clans' coffers. All this occurred in a climate of constant criminal geopolitical tension, culminating in conflicts between the "mianesi" and the Amato-Pagano incursions, which even resulted in an attempted ambush in August 2022.

The revelations of the repentants: the voice of Luigi Rignante

The decisive impetus for the prosecution's case, as Il Roma reports, came from the disclosures of collaborators with justice, primarily Luigi Rignante, whose statements dovetailed with those of Salvatore Roselli. Rignante, revealing the background to the trafficking, outlined with surgical precision the internal dynamics of "33":

"The absolute master of the place was Massimiliano Cafasso," the informer recounts, "but its heyday was under the management of Paolo Gervasio and Salvatore Mele. A multimillion-euro empire was built there. The Amato-Paganos promoted them to manage the entire cocaine trade in Scampia. The shipments arrived to them, and they distributed them throughout the city and the entire Campania region."

The collaborator also described the compartmentalization of the market: while there were different channels for hashish, weed, and crack, the lucrative cocaine and cocaine trafficking responded to separate logics and was subject to the direct control of the secessionists.

From the Cell to the Top: The Hidden Direction and the Reopening of the Square

Among the prominent names is Massimiliano Cafasso, known as "Maglietella," a veteran of the 2004 feud against the Di Lauros and considered by investigators to be one of the gang's historic promoters. Although the investigating judge found a lack of immediate evidence against him—also due to his lengthy detention for other proceedings—his profile remains central to the investigators' reconstruction.

Alongside him, the leading role was taken by Salvatore Mele, alias "Saviuccio." Rignante himself revealed how the drug dealing hub was reactivated directly from behind bars at Mele's behest:

"In prison, I spoke with Mele," the collaborator recalls, "and he clearly told me he wanted to reopen it. We brought the embassy, ​​and the square was reopened. Today, the square is back under his management: he took over from "Frizione" and is the Amato-Pagano gang's absolute point of contact in Scampia. If we had a problem and needed to talk to the Amato-Pagano gang, we had to go through him."

362 years in prison requested

The total number of sentencing requests submitted by the DDA (Deputy Prosecutor Lucio Giugliano, with the investigative coordination also involving prosecutors including Mariangela Magariello) amounts to a total of 362 years and 4 months of prison for the 26 defendants tried under the summary procedure.

Mario Abbatiello: 20 years
Salvatore Mele: 20 years old
Pasquale Capano: 19 years and 8 months
Antonio De Matteo: 18 years old
Giovanni Conte: 18 years and 8 months
Antonio Musto: 18 years and 8 months
Antonio Abbatiello: 16 years old
Giuseppe Cacciapuoti: 16 years and 4 months
Pasquale Luongo: 15 years old
Alessio Francesco D'Ambrosio: 13 years old
Salvatore Bifolchetto: 12 years old
Gennaro Calvino: 12 years and 4 months
Fabio Cartigiano: 12 years old
Laura De Salvo: 12 years old
Cesare Di Domenico: 12 years old
Gennaro Gaglione: 12 years and 4 months
Dimitro Tsevtzov: 12 years and 4 months
Gabriele Vallefuoco: 12 years old
Vincenzo Castelnuovo: 11 years old
Cristian Celentano: 10 years
Nicoletta Mascaro: 10 years and 4 months
Michael Rossi: 9 years and 8 months
Giovanni Russo: 9 years and 4 months
Luciano Carbone: 8 years old
Giovanni Castiello: 8 years old

The defense team includes the following lawyers: Luca Mottola, Luigi Poziello, Domenico Dello Iacono, Dario Carmine Procentese, Francesco Foreste, Antonella Regine, Alessio Ruoppo and Antonietta Madore.

(In the photo, starting from top left, the repentant Luigi Rignante, Mario Abbatiello, Gabriele Vallefuoco, Cristian Celentano, Giovanni Castiello, Cesare Di Domenico, and Aura De Salvo. At the bottom from left instead: Salvatore Bifolchetto, Vincenzo Castelnuovo, Michael Rossi, Luciano Carbone, Gennaro Ottaianao, and Antonietta Mascaro)