Banknotes totalling 3 million and 200 thousand euros were buried within the walls of a house in Caivano, in the province of Naples, along with 11 luxury watches. Numerous hammer blows were needed to break apart the hiding place, and the money was then carried away in plastic buckets. The banknotes, in 50-euro denominations, were all cellophane-wrapped in an orderly fashion. The money was clearly the proceeds of drug markets run like commercial businesses, with shifts, "extended opening hours" and substantial earnings.
All of this emerges from a lengthy precautionary custody order (over 1,100 pages) signed by Naples tribunal judge Lucia De Micco, which led to measures being issued against 34 individuals (23 imprisoned and eleven placed under house arrest) accused on various counts of belonging to a criminal organisation. According to investigators — the measures were carried out by the Carabinieri of the investigative unit of Castello di Cisterna and the operational sections of the Caivano and Casoria companies — the organisation answers to the Angelino clan, operating in Caivano and Casoria. As can be gathered from the case documents, a number of justice collaborators played a decisive role in the investigation. It is thanks to them that, during the course of operations, the Carabinieri discovered, during a search of the home of a person believed to be among the leadership of the group in the Bronx neighbourhood of Caivano, the cash sum of 3.2 million euros, concealed in various hiding places with the aid of electronic systems. On the same occasion, eleven watches were also found, with a value of over 127,000 euros.
Particularly interesting details emerge, however, regarding the operations of the drug markets — investigations have been ongoing since 2021 and through to July 2025. These include the reconstruction of events following the discovery of the lifeless body of Antonio Natale, a young man killed by multiple gunshot wounds whose body was found weeks after his disappearance. According to what emerges from the investigative work, the group dismantled today had managed to resist attempts by certain parties to redirect the drug markets back into the Parco Verde area. But it is in the way these markets functioned that similarities with commercial businesses become apparent. Beginning with supply: detailed drug shipments arrived every Monday, with payment required by the following Friday. Investments were not lacking either, such as the purchase of Rolex watches which, according to the justice collaborators, were displayed on social media to "demonstrate the strength" of the organisation. For territorial control, specific "professionals" were identified who worked exclusively for the clan, with monthly salaries ranging from ten to twenty thousand euros. It is this individual — the informants explain — who authorises the supply of cocaine to the various markets in Caivano. Markets which, in the majority of cases, are managed on a "family level" to avoid the involvement of outsiders, who could therefore be potentially dangerous.
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