Italian Carabinieri arrested Roberto Mazzarella, head of the Mazzarella Camorra clan and one of Italy’s four most dangerous fugitives, at a luxury resort on the Amalfi Coast late Friday night, April 3. The operation, which concluded in the early hours of Saturday, was the culmination of a sustained campaign that had already targeted much of his organization.
Mazzarella, 48, had been at large since January 28, 2025, when he evaded an arrest warrant for aggravated homicide linked to a mafia-type criminal association, according to a statement from the Carabinieri Nucleo Investigativo of Naples.
He checked into the resort in Vietri sul Mare, in the province of Salerno, under a false identity, paying roughly €1,000 per night. Officers, supported by patrol boats positioned offshore, raided the villa in the early hours of April 4. He did not resist.
Catturato dai #Carabinieri di Napoli Roberto Mazzarella, capo dell’omonimo clan, inserito nell’elenco dei latitanti di massima pericolosità del Ministero dell’Interno. Si nascondeva in una villa di pregio della costiera amalfitana
📄➡️ https://t.co/2pAleOwmhq pic.twitter.com/waB0IRECYC— Arma dei Carabinieri (@_Carabinieri_) April 4, 2026
Investigators seized approximately €20,000 in cash, three luxury watches, forged identity documents, mobile phones, and handwritten notes the Carabinieri said are under review as potential clan financial records.
The April 4 arrest was the third major operation against the clan in 30 days.
On March 3, the Carabinieri and Naples police executed 71 precautionary custody measures targeting the Mazzarella clan and their longtime rival-turned-partner, the Secondigliano Alliance, following a joint investigation coordinated by the Naples District Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA).
On March 16, a separate DDA-coordinated operation dismantled a cyber fraud network linked to the clan, detaining 16 additional suspects and seizing nearly €1 million in assets.
“An important blow to the Camorra and a clear signal, the state is here and will not back down,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X.
Complimenti ai Carabinieri del Nucleo Investigativo di Napoli e alla Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia per la cattura del boss latitante Roberto Mazzarella, tra i latitanti di massima pericolosità.
Un colpo importante alla camorra e un segnale chiaro: lo Stato c’è e non arretra.…— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) April 4, 2026
Mazzarella is suspected of ordering and carrying out the 2000 murder of Antonio Maione in San Giovanni a Teduccio, a neighborhood in eastern Naples.
Investigators believe the killing was retaliatory: Maione’s brother had killed Mazzarella’s father, Salvatore, five years earlier. Maione himself had no known ties to organized crime, according to the DDA case record.
With the arrest, Italy’s Interior Ministry superlatitanti list, which tracks fugitives of maximum danger, is reduced to three names: Attilio Cubeddu, wanted since 1997; Giovanni Motisi, wanted since 1998; and Renato Cinquegranella, wanted since 2002.
“I express enormous satisfaction for the brilliant operation carried out,” Anti-Mafia Commission President Chiara Colosimo said on X.
Esprimo enorme soddisfazione per la brillante operazione condotta dai Carabinieri del Nucleo Investigativo del Comando Provinciale di Napoli, che ha portato all’arresto del latitante Roberto Mazzarella figura di vertice dell’omonimo clan, già inserito nell’elenco dei latitanti…
— Chiara Colosimo (@ChiaraColosimo) April 4, 2026
