Four individuals have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of Angelo Vassallo, the former mayor of Pollica, a small town in Salerno. Vassallo was shot dead on September 5, 2010. Among those arrested are Colonel Fabio Cagnazzo, a longtime head of the Carabinieri in Castello di Cisterna near Naples, and former Brigadier Lazzaro Cioffi, the son-in-law of Domenico D’Albenzio, a prominent member of the Belforte clan, linked to the Camorra.
According to prosecutors, new evidence from 2022 suggests that Vassallo was killed because he was on the verge of exposing individuals connected to the Camorra who were facilitating drug trafficking in the area. While investigators initially suspected Camorra involvement, the case faced significant delays and was marred by efforts to mislead the investigation.
The prosecution alleges that Cagnazzo orchestrated the killing with the help of Cioffi and two other suspects: businessman Giuseppe Cipriano and Romolo Ridosso, a member of the Loreto-Ridosso clan and a government informant. Cagnazzo is accused of taking steps to obstruct the investigation, including having certain surveillance footage confiscated and attempting to direct investigators toward an Italian-Brazilian man, who was later cleared of involvement.
