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Castel Volturno massacre | |
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Location | Baia Verde, a suburb of the Castel Volturno municipality in the province of Caserta |
Coordinates | 41°01′09″N13°57′11″E / 41.0191°N 13.9531°E |
Date | 18 September 2008 21:00 - 21:30 approximately |
Target | Owner of an arcade, six drug traffickers |
Attack type | Massacre, mass shooting |
Deaths | 7 |
Injured | 1 |
Perpetrators | Gangsters from the Casalesi clan. It was performed by Alfonso Cesarano, Alessandro Cirillo and Oreste Spagnuolo, with the suspected involvement of Francesco Cirillo, Emilio Di Caterino and Giovanni Letizia, on the orders of Giuseppe Setola. |
Motive | Control of the drug market and real estate |
The Castel Volturno massacre (Italian: Strage di Castel Volturno or Strage di San Gennaro) is the name given by the Italian press to a mass shooting perpetrated by the Casalesi clan in which seven people were killed on 18 September 2008. The massacre outside the Ob Ob Exotic Fashion tailor shop on the Via Domitiana was widely characterized as part of a growing conflict between the native Camorra and the immigrant African drug gangs. Murdered were Antonio Celiento, the owner of an arcade next to Baia Verde, and six African immigrants: [1] Samuel Kwaku, 26 (Togo); Alaj Ababa (Togo); Francis Antwi, 31 (Ghana); Eric Affum Yeboah, 25 (Ghana); Alex Geemes, 28 (Liberia) and Cristopher Adams, 28 (Liberia). Joseph Ayimbora (Ghana), 34, survived by feigning death; he later helped identify the killers.
The murders sparked violent protests from Castel Volturno's immigrant community the following day, [2] [3] which culminated in the signing of measures launched by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense on combating organized crime and illegal immigration to Caserta. [4]
The Africans' killers were identified as Alfonso Cesarano, Alessandro Cirillo and Oreste Spagnuolo. A further three people, Francesco Cirillo, Emilio Di Caterino and Giovanni Letizia, have been suspected of involvement in the murders, which were ordered by Giuseppe Setola, affiliated with the Casalesi clan.
On 22 September 2008, the first arrest was made in connection with the massacre. Alfonso Cesarano, a Casalesi triggerman, was found in his parents' home in Baia Verde, where he was under house arrest on drug charges next to the arcade where the first victim, Celiento, had been killed. [5]
The Italian government deployed 400 troops into the area. [6] A huge anti-Camorra operation conducted in that same month by the Carabinieri dealt a devastating blow on the Casalesi clan, resulting in the arrests of 107 people including prominent members of the association, some of whom were on the list of 30 most wanted fugitives in Italy. Among those arrested were Alessandro Cirillo and Oreste Spagnuolo, the main co-ordinators of the attack. [7] On January 14, 2009, Setola was finally arrested in Mignano Monte Lungo after a week on the run. During this period, he was included in the list of 30 most dangerous fugitives in Italy and was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia after being convicted on charges of ordering several killings and massacres, including that at Castel Volturno. [8] [9]
In 2011, the court in Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta) sentenced Giuseppe Setola, Davide Granato, Alessandro Cirillo, Giovanni Letizia to life imprisonment and Antonio Alluce to 23 years. The Court recognized the existence of aggravating circumstances such as racial hatred and terrorist purposes. [10] [11]
The Camorra is an Italian Mafia-type criminal organization and criminal society originating in the region of Campania. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 17th century. The Camorra's organizational structure is divided into individual groups called "clans". Every capo or "boss" is the head of a clan, in which there may be tens or hundreds of affiliates, depending on the clan's power and structure. The Camorra's main businesses are drug trafficking, racketeering, counterfeiting, and money laundering. It is also not unusual for Camorra clans to infiltrate the politics of their respective areas.
Castel Volturno is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) northwest of Naples and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) west of Caserta on the Volturno river. In 2010 Castel Volturno was inhabited by 25,000 locals and about 18,000 African refugees. Today (2019) there are still about 25,000 people, estimated two-thirds of them are immigrants.
Francesco Vottari, also known as Cicciu u Frunzu, is a boss of the 'Ndrangheta from San Luca in Calabria. He is the son of Giuseppe Vottari. He is married to Maria Pelle, the daughter of Antonio Pelle, the capo crimine of the organisation.
Gomorrah is a 2008 Italian crime drama film directed by Matteo Garrone, based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Roberto Saviano, who also collaborated in the screenplay. It deals with the Casalesi clan, a crime syndicate within the Camorra — a traditional criminal organization based in Naples and Caserta, in the southern Italian region of Campania.
Carmine Alfieri is an Italian Camorra boss, who rose from Piazzolla di Nola to become one of the most powerful members of Neapolitan Camorra in the 1980s. As boss of the Alfieri clan, he was one of the most influential and powerful Camorra bosses from 1984 until his arrest in 1992. Alfieri's nickname is 'o 'ntufato, the angry one, thanks to the dissatisfied, angry sneer he wears constantly.
The Casalesi clan is a clan within the Camorra, an Italian criminal organization, operating from San Cipriano d'Aversa in the province of Caserta. Formed by Antonio Bardellino, it is a confederation of clans in the Caserta area. The Casalesi clan is believed to be one of the most powerful groups within the Camorra, specialising in construction and keeping a lower profile than clans that focus on drug dealing.
Francesco Bidognetti is a powerful Italian Camorrista. He is the chief lieutenant of Francesco Schiavone, boss of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta, and head of the Bidognetti clan, one of the five clans which make up the Casalesi. He is known as "'Cicciott' 'e Mezzanotte'".
The Lo Russo clan was a Neapolitan Camorra clan operating on its territory within the city of Naples, concentrated specifically in the area of Miano, whose control extended throughout numerous neighborhoods in the north of the city for more than three decades. Since the fall of all the Lo Russo brothers, and the numerous arrests of most of its affiliates, the organization is considered overthrown.
Augusto La Torre is an Italian criminal and former Camorra boss. Up until his arrest and subsequent collaboration with Italian justice in January 2003, La Torre was the head of the now defunct La Torre clan, a powerful Camorra organization whose vast lucrative criminal empire stretched from its base Mondragone in the hinterland of Campania out into Aberdeen, Scotland, as well as the Netherlands.
The Pescopagano massacre was a massacre perpetrated by the La Torre clan on 24 April 1990 in front of a bar in Pescopagano, in the municipality of Mondragone, located in the province of Caserta, Italy.
Giuseppe Setola is an Italian Camorrista and former boss of the Casalesi clan from Caserta. Since 2008, he was included on the list most wanted fugitives in Italy, until his arrest on January 14, 2009, in Mignano Monte Lungo. Setola allegedly headed a squad of killers, and was said to have ordered or carried out 18 murders throughout the latter half of 2008. Police began a massive manhunt against Setola in response to the murders of six West African immigrants in Castel Volturno.
Raffaele Diana is an Italian Camorrista and senior boss of the Casalesi clan from Caserta. His nickname is Rafilotto.
The Russo clan is a Neapolitan Camorra clan operating in the town of Nola and its surrounding territories. Police say the Russo clan had total control over illegal activity in about 40 towns in the Naples region.
Nicola Panaro, is an Italian Camorrista and member in the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta between Naples and Salerno. He has been on the "most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 2003 until his arrest in April 2010. Convicted for extortion and membership in the Camorra, he has yet to serve a prison sentence of nine years and four months.
Francesco Mallardo, also known as Ciccio 'e Carlantonio, is an Italian criminal and a member of the Neapolitan Camorra. He headed the Mallardo clan operating from the town of Giugliano in Campania, north of the city of Naples. He was added to the list of thirty most dangerous fugitives in Italy.
The Cesarano clan is a Camorra clan from the town of Castellammare di Stabia, in the Metropolitan City of Naples.
Sari Gilbert (October 15, 2008). "Racial violence comes to Italy". Wanted in Rome. Archived from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.