Casalesi clan
Encyclopedia
The Casalesi clan is a clan within the Camorra
, an Italian
criminal organization, operating from Casal di Principe
in the province of Caserta
between Naples
and Salerno
.
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.
In the 1980s, Bardellino realized that cocaine
, not heroin, would become the more profitable drug and organized a trafficking operation smuggling it from Latin America
to Aversa
via a fish flour import-export business. Heroin was smuggled as well, and shipments to the Gambino crime family
were concealed inside espresso filters. When one shipment was intercepted by the authorities, Bardellino reportedly called John Gotti
and told him; "Don't worry, now we're sending twice as much the other way".
During the Camorra war of the 1980s, the Casalesi sided with Nuova Famiglia
against Raffaele Cutolo
. In one incident, Casalesi members positioned a machine gun on a hill in Ponte Annicchino and opened fire, killing four Cutolo members. After the Casalesi achieved dominance in their area following the defeat of Cutolo, Antonio Bardellino settled in Santo Domingo
with his family. But unrest grew within the Casalesi.
Heading up the clan's military operations were Francesco Schiavone
and Francesco Bidognetti
, and they thought Bardellino's right hand man Mario Iovine was too close to Bardellino but did not approve of their plans for autonomy. They convinced Bardellino to order the murder of Iovine's brother, and then told Iovine that Bardellino had his brother killed based purely on a rumour. Iovine murdered Bardellino in retaliation in his Brazil
ian villa in 1988, meeting him under the pretext of discussing their cocaine operation. A number of men loyal to Bardellino were subsequently murdered.
Francesco Schiavone took over as leader. In the early 1990s another war broke out between Schiavone's men and those loyal to another boss, Vincenzo de Falco, who was shot dead in 1991. During this war Mario Iovine was also killed, sprayed by bullets by de Falco's men while in a telephone booth in Portugal
. The war lasted four years. In March 2004, Francesco Schiavone's cousin, Francesco Cicciariello Schiavone, was arrested in Poland
and charged with 10 homicides, three kidnappings, nine attempted homicides and extortion.
. Over 1,300 people were investigated and 500 witness took the stand. The trial against 36 members of the Casalesi clan finally concluded on June 19, 2008, after 10-years. Over the course of the trial five people involved in the case were murdered, including an interpreter. A judge and two journalists received death threats.
All defendants were found guilty and 16 will never be released. Francesco Schiavone
, his lieutenant, Francesco Bidognetti
, and Antonio Iovine
were given life sentences. Michele Zagaria
got the same sentence but is currently on the run and included in the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy.
in Palermo
and having alliances with Albanian mobsters
and Nigerian crime syndicates
. Their total assets are estimated to be worth around 30 billion euros.
On September 18, 2008 six African immigrants were shot dead on Castel Volturno
in what is believed to be a dispute between the Casalesi and immigrant drug gangs. A riot followed the next day, and the Italian government has deployed 500 troops in the area to deal with the outbreak of Camorra violence.
Camorra
The Camorra is a Mafia-type criminal organization, or secret society, originating in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 18th century.-Background:...
, an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
criminal organization, operating from Casal di Principe
Casal di Principe
Casal di Principe is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 25 km northwest of Naples and about 20 km southwest of Caserta....
in the province of Caserta
Caserta
Caserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range...
between Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
.
Formed by Antonio Bardellino
Antonio Bardellino
Antonio Bardellino was a powerful Neapolitan Camorrista and boss of the Casalesi clan, having a prominent role in the organized crime in the province of Caserta during the 1980s...
, 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.
History
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, not heroin, would become the more profitable drug and organized a trafficking operation smuggling it from Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
to Aversa
Aversa
Aversa is a town and comune in the Province of Caserta in Campania southern Italy, about 15 kilometres north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the agro aversano, producing wine and cheese...
via a fish flour import-export business. Heroin was smuggled as well, and shipments to the Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
were concealed inside espresso filters. When one shipment was intercepted by the authorities, Bardellino reportedly called John Gotti
John Gotti
John Joseph Gotti, Jr was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti grew up in poverty. He and his brothers turned to a life of crime at an early age...
and told him; "Don't worry, now we're sending twice as much the other way".
During the Camorra war of the 1980s, the Casalesi sided with Nuova Famiglia
Nuova Famiglia
The Nuova Famiglia was an Italian Camorra criminal organization created in the 1980s to face Raffaele Cutolo's Nuova Camorra Organizzata....
against Raffaele Cutolo
Raffaele Cutolo
Raffaele Cutolo is an Italian crime boss and the charismatic leader of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata , an organisation he built to renew the Camorra. Cutolo has a variety of nicknames including "'o Vangelo" , "'o Principe" , "'o Professore" and "'o Monaco"...
. In one incident, Casalesi members positioned a machine gun on a hill in Ponte Annicchino and opened fire, killing four Cutolo members. After the Casalesi achieved dominance in their area following the defeat of Cutolo, Antonio Bardellino settled in Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
with his family. But unrest grew within the Casalesi.
Heading up the clan's military operations were Francesco Schiavone
Francesco Schiavone
Francesco Schiavone is a member of the Camorra, the Neapolitan organized crime syndicate, and the head of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta between Naples and Salerno...
and Francesco Bidognetti
Francesco Bidognetti
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 between Naples and Salerno, and head of the Bidognetti clan, one of the five clans which make up the Casalesi...
, and they thought Bardellino's right hand man Mario Iovine was too close to Bardellino but did not approve of their plans for autonomy. They convinced Bardellino to order the murder of Iovine's brother, and then told Iovine that Bardellino had his brother killed based purely on a rumour. Iovine murdered Bardellino in retaliation in his Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian villa in 1988, meeting him under the pretext of discussing their cocaine operation. A number of men loyal to Bardellino were subsequently murdered.
Francesco Schiavone took over as leader. In the early 1990s another war broke out between Schiavone's men and those loyal to another boss, Vincenzo de Falco, who was shot dead in 1991. During this war Mario Iovine was also killed, sprayed by bullets by de Falco's men while in a telephone booth in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. The war lasted four years. In March 2004, Francesco Schiavone's cousin, Francesco Cicciariello Schiavone, was arrested in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and charged with 10 homicides, three kidnappings, nine attempted homicides and extortion.
Spartacus trial
Following his arrest, all the police investigations into the clan were grouped together in the Spartacus TrialSpartacus Trial
The Spartacus Maxi-Trial was a series of criminal trials that were specifically directed against the activities of the powerful Casalesi clan of the Camorra. The trial was opened at the Corte d'Assise of Santa Maria Capua Vetere in Caserta...
. Over 1,300 people were investigated and 500 witness took the stand. The trial against 36 members of the Casalesi clan finally concluded on June 19, 2008, after 10-years. Over the course of the trial five people involved in the case were murdered, including an interpreter. A judge and two journalists received death threats.
All defendants were found guilty and 16 will never be released. Francesco Schiavone
Francesco Schiavone
Francesco Schiavone is a member of the Camorra, the Neapolitan organized crime syndicate, and the head of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta between Naples and Salerno...
, his lieutenant, Francesco Bidognetti
Francesco Bidognetti
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 between Naples and Salerno, and head of the Bidognetti clan, one of the five clans which make up the Casalesi...
, and Antonio Iovine
Antonio Iovine
Antonio Iovine is a powerful Italian Camorrista and one of the bosses of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta between Naples and Lazio...
were given life sentences. Michele Zagaria
Michele Zagaria
Michele Zagaria , is a powerful Italian Camorrista and one of the bosses of the Casalesi clan from Casal di Principe in the province of Caserta northwest of Naples. He is on the "most wanted list" of the Italian ministry of the Interior since 1995, for Camorra association, murder, extortion,...
got the same sentence but is currently on the run and included in the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy.
Current status
The cartel is currently run by Antonio Iovine and Michele Zagaria. The Casalesi clan is heavily involved in the cement and milk industries as well as the international drug trade, supplying drugs to the MafiaMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
in Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
and having alliances with Albanian mobsters
Albanian mafia
The Albanian Mafia or Albanian organized crime are the general terms used for criminal organizations based in Albania or composed of ethnic Albanians. Albanian organized crime is active in Albania, the United States, and the European Union countries, participating in a diverse range of criminal...
and Nigerian crime syndicates
Nigerian organized crime
Nigerian organized crime, or Nigerian OC, may refer to a number of fraudsters, drug traffickers and racketeers of various sorts originating from Nigeria...
. Their total assets are estimated to be worth around 30 billion euros.
On September 18, 2008 six African immigrants were shot dead on Castel Volturno
Castel Volturno
Castel Volturno is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 35 km northwest of Naples and about 35 km west of Caserta on the Volturno river.-History:...
in what is believed to be a dispute between the Casalesi and immigrant drug gangs. A riot followed the next day, and the Italian government has deployed 500 troops in the area to deal with the outbreak of Camorra violence.