Vincenzo Casillo - Aftermath

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:

"From that moment (Casillo's death in 1983) until today, Alfieri and his men were able to stain Campania with blood and obtain large slices of the reconstruction cake; for a long time they would also constitute an uncontested effective government in large areas of the region."

On the turning point that had been reached with Casillo's murder, Galasso stated in court:

"As far as I can recall, that is the only crime we talked about in euphoric terms. Alfieri embraced the assassin and congratulated him for the courage he had shown; I know that he later gave him a Rolex."

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 Carlo Alemi, the magistrate who was investigating the Ciro Cirillo release case. 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.