Vincenzo Casillo
Encyclopedia
Vincenzo Casillo was an Italian Camorrista and the second in command of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata
(NCO), a Camorra
organization in Naples
. His nickname was "'o Nirone" (The Big Black).
, during the period when he was imprisoned in the prisons of Poggioreale
and Ascoli Piceno
. As the NCO's second in command, he participated in a high-level meeting with representatives of the Sicilian Mafia and Camorra clans to try to put an end to the bloody war between the NCO and their rivals from the Nuova Famiglia
(NF), together with Cutolo’s sister, Rosetta
.
pentito
, Francesco Di Carlo
claimed that Vincenzo Casillo together with another Camorrista, Sergio Vaccari were responsible for the murder of Roberto Calvi
, the chairman of Banco Ambrosiano
who was dubbed the "God's Banker". Casillo once confessed to murdering the bankrupt financier to Enrico Madonna, Cutolo's lawyer. Madonna himself was later murdered in October 1993, three days after telling a journalist that he was willing to tell a parliamentary commission all he knew about the Cirillo kidnapping affair.
(DC) politician Ciro Cirillo
, who had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades
on April 27, 1981. He managed to do so, in spite of being a wanted man at the time.
Forte Boccea in Rome
. Pasquale Galasso
, chief of the Galasso clan and member of the rival Nuova Famiglia
headed by Carmine Alfieri
, was responsible for the blast. This was one of the first times that a Camorra clan had used this kind of technique to dispose of a rival.
Galasso claimed that he killed Casillo in order to free Antonio Gava
and other Christian democrats from Cutolo's threats. In a meeting held in April 1982, nine months after the kidnapping, Vincenzo Casillo reportedly told Giuliano Granata, the DC mayor who had taken part with him in the negotiations: "You did what you wanted and then washed your hands."
According to Galasso who later became a pentito, the reasons for his murder were:
Although there are some rumors that Cutolo ordered Casillo killed because he had taken Cutolo's part of the Cirillo ransom, Cutolo has stated that he was wary of the untrustworthiness of the politicians and claims to have warned Casillo after the kidnapping:
The fact that a secret service card that could be used by Casillo was found in his burnt-out car lends some credibility to the scenario that his death might have been linked to the Cirillo kidnapping.
As the Anti-Mafia commission once wrote:
On the turning point that had been reached with Casillo's murder, Galasso stated in court:
The assassination of Casillo was followed by the murders of several NCO members by the Nuova Famiglia. Casillo's partner disappeared a few weeks after his death, and her body was eventually found in a ditch under a motorway in December 1983. Nicola Nuzzo, a key NCO member involved in the negotiations was battered to death in the ward of a Roman hospital in 1986, soon after a meeting with an investigating magistrate, Carlo Alemi. Salvatore Imperatrice, Casillo's bodyguard and also a member of the NCO negotiating team, died of mysterious causes - alleged by authorities to be suicide, in a mental asylum in March 1989. Mario Cuomo, who lost his legs in the explosion that killed Casillo, was eventually murdered in October 1990.
Nuova Camorra Organizzata
The Nuova Camorra Organizzata was an Italian Camorra criminal organization founded in the late 1970s by a Neapolitan Camorrista, Raffaele Cutolo, in the region of Campania. It was also known by the initials NCO...
(NCO), a Camorra
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:...
organization in 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...
. His nickname was "'o Nirone" (The Big Black).
Second in Command
He was one of the earliest members of the NCO, since its formation in 1970. Casillo was highly trusted and soon rose to become the deputy and main military chief of crime boss, Raffaele CutoloRaffaele 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"...
, during the period when he was imprisoned in the prisons of Poggioreale
Poggioreale
Poggioreale is a small town and comune in Sicily, Italy, set on the Belice valley, which administratively belongs to the province of Trapani....
and Ascoli Piceno
Ascoli Piceno
Ascoli Piceno is a town and comune in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is c. 51,400.-Geography:...
. As the NCO's second in command, he participated in a high-level meeting with representatives of the Sicilian Mafia and Camorra clans to try to put an end to the bloody war between the NCO and their rivals from the 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....
(NF), together with Cutolo’s sister, Rosetta
Rosetta Cutolo
Rosetta Cutolo is the sister of the notorious Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo, the head of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata , an organisation he built to renew the Camorra. As Cutolo spent most of his time behind bars from where he sent out his instructions, the everyday running of the enterprise was...
.
Purported involvement in the Roberto Calvi murder
In June 1996, the Sicilian 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...
pentito
Pentito
Pentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations...
, Francesco Di Carlo
Francesco Di Carlo
Francesco Di Carlo is a member of the Mafia who turned state witness in 1996...
claimed that Vincenzo Casillo together with another Camorrista, Sergio Vaccari were responsible for the murder of Roberto Calvi
Roberto Calvi
Roberto Calvi was an Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. A native of Milan, Calvi was Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of modern Italy's biggest political scandals...
, the chairman of Banco Ambrosiano
Banco Ambrosiano
Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982. At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman, Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due...
who was dubbed the "God's Banker". Casillo once confessed to murdering the bankrupt financier to Enrico Madonna, Cutolo's lawyer. Madonna himself was later murdered in October 1993, three days after telling a journalist that he was willing to tell a parliamentary commission all he knew about the Cirillo kidnapping affair.
Negotiator in the Cirillo Kidnapping
Casillo also played an active role in negotiating the release of the Christian DemocratChristian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
(DC) politician Ciro Cirillo
Cirillo kidnap
On April 27, 1981, the Red Brigades kidnapped the 60-year-old Christian Democrat politician Ciro Cirillo and killed his two-man escort in the garage of his Naples apartment building. At the time Cirillo directed reconstruction efforts in Campania devastated by the earthquake in the Irpinia region...
, who had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
on April 27, 1981. He managed to do so, in spite of being a wanted man at the time.
Assassination
On January 29, 1983, Casillo was murdered by a car bomb planted under the pedal of his car, next to the SISMISISMI
Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977-2007....
Forte Boccea in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Pasquale Galasso
Pasquale Galasso
Pasquale Galasso is a former boss of the Galasso clan, a clan of the Camorra, the Neapolitan crime organization. Since August 1992, he has been a pentito , collaborating with the Italian justice. He revealed many intricate secrets about the Camorra...
, chief of the Galasso clan and member of the rival 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....
headed by Carmine Alfieri
Carmine Alfieri
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 the undisputed head of the Camorra from 1984 until his arrest in 1992...
, was responsible for the blast. This was one of the first times that a Camorra clan had used this kind of technique to dispose of a rival.
Galasso claimed that he killed Casillo in order to free Antonio Gava
Antonio Gava
Antonio Gava was an Italian politician and member of Christian Democracy...
and other Christian democrats from Cutolo's threats. In a meeting held in April 1982, nine months after the kidnapping, Vincenzo Casillo reportedly told Giuliano Granata, the DC mayor who had taken part with him in the negotiations: "You did what you wanted and then washed your hands."
According to Galasso who later became a pentito, the reasons for his murder were:
Although there are some rumors that Cutolo ordered Casillo killed because he had taken Cutolo's part of the Cirillo ransom, Cutolo has stated that he was wary of the untrustworthiness of the politicians and claims to have warned Casillo after the kidnapping:
The fact that a secret service card that could be used by Casillo was found in his burnt-out car lends some credibility to the scenario that his death might have been linked to the Cirillo kidnapping.
Aftermath
Casillo's death was one of the many factors that brought about the downfall of the NCO. It represented a turning point in the relationship between the local politicians and the Camorra. After his death, it was clear Cutolo not only had lost his political protection but the war as well. His former political protectors turned and provided their support to his main rival Carmine Alfieri. Many other Camorra gangs understood the shift in the balance of power caused by the death of Casillo. They abandoned the NCO and allied themselves with Alfieri.As the Anti-Mafia commission once wrote:
On the turning point that had been reached with Casillo's murder, Galasso stated in court:
The assassination of Casillo was followed by the murders of several NCO members by the Nuova Famiglia. Casillo's partner disappeared a few weeks after his death, and her body was eventually found in a ditch under a motorway in December 1983. Nicola Nuzzo, a key NCO member involved in the negotiations was battered to death in the ward of a Roman hospital in 1986, soon after a meeting with an investigating magistrate, Carlo Alemi. Salvatore Imperatrice, Casillo's bodyguard and also a member of the NCO negotiating team, died of mysterious causes - alleged by authorities to be suicide, in a mental asylum in March 1989. Mario Cuomo, who lost his legs in the explosion that killed Casillo, was eventually murdered in October 1990.