Casalesi hitman caught
Last fugitive from murder squad that killed Africans
11 March, 14:16
(ANSA) - Naples, March 11 - Italian police on Thursday
arrested a fugitive belonging to the notorious Casalesi clan of
the Neapolitan Camorra crime syndicate.Ciro Gallo, 34, was said to be the 14th and last member still at large of a hit squad led by Giuseppe Setola that gunned down six West African immigrants at Castel Volturno near Caserta in September 2008.
"This sets the seal on the State's victory against these murderers," said Naples Flying Squad chief Vittorio Pisani. "It shows we were determined to get them all, even the small fry". "Setola's group terrorised people all around Caserta. It's very important that they have all been caught".
Setola, 39, was caught on January 14, two days after he dodged arrest by crawling through sewers on the outskirts of Caserta, a city north of Naples.
Italian police had launched a huge manhunt for him after the 2008 massacre which sparked immigrant unrest in Castel Volturno.
While closing the net on him, they arrested a Carabinieri officer suspected of tipping him off.
In all, Setola was wanted for 17 murders committed over five months in 2008, after he got out of jail in May that year on the strength of a doctor's certificate that said he was virtually blind.
After the massacre of the six West Africans on September 18 the Italian government sent in the army to bolster efforts against the Casalesi.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the clan had ''declared war on the Italian state''.
The criminal empire of the Casalesi clan was exposed by journalist and writer Roberto Saviano who has been under round-the-clock police protection for three years after receiving death threats from the clan.
Saviano's book Gomorrah (Gomorra in Italian, a play on Camorra) was turned into a critically acclaimed film which won second prize at Cannes and five European Film Awards in 2008.
Gallo, was well as being a member of Setola's extermination team, was said to have run protection rackets "all around the Caserta area", police added.
He had been on the run since July 2009 from an arrest warrant issued on charges of extortion.
Gallo and Setola are believed to be part of the Casalesi clan run by jailed boss Francesco Bidognetti aka 'Cicciotto e Mezzanotte' (Midnight Fatty).
