A Camorra clan's killing of six African immigrants in Castel Volturno exposed violent organized crime targeting migrant communities in southern Italy.
Key Facts
- Date
- 18 September 2008
- Total killed
- 7 people
- African victims
- 6 (from Togo, Ghana, Liberia)
- Perpetrating clan
- Casalesi clan (Camorra)
- Attack site
- Ob Ob Exotic Fashion tailor shop, Via Domitiana
- Massacre ordered by
- Giuseppe Setola
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Tensions between the Casalesi clan of the Camorra and African immigrant drug networks in the Castel Volturno area had been escalating. The clan, under orders from Giuseppe Setola, sought to assert dominance over the territory and eliminate perceived rivals among the immigrant community along the Via Domitiana corridor.
On 18 September 2008, gunmen Alfonso Cesarano, Alessandro Cirillo, and Oreste Spagnuolo opened fire outside the Ob Ob Exotic Fashion tailor shop on Via Domitiana, killing seven people: arcade owner Antonio Celiento and six African immigrants from Togo, Ghana, and Liberia. One Ghanaian survivor, Joseph Ayimbora, feigned death and later identified the killers.
The killings provoked violent protests from Castel Volturno's immigrant community the following day. The unrest led to the signing of joint measures by Italy's Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense targeting organized crime and illegal immigration in the Caserta region, bringing national attention to the vulnerability of African migrants to Camorra violence.