Giuseppe Setola led the armed wing of the Casalesi clan, the Camorra organization of the Caserta area north of Naples. On September 18, 2008 six men died at Castel Volturno, in the province of Caserta. In April 2011 the Assize Court of Santa Maria Capua Vetere sentenced Setola and three co-defendants to life imprisonment for those six killings; a fifth defendant received a fixed term. The Court of Assize of Appeal of Naples excluded the aggravating circumstance of terrorist purpose in 2013, and on January 30, 2014 the Court of Cassation confirmed the life sentences, making Setola's conviction for the six killings final.
Setola has other convictions and other proceedings. A first-instance court gave him a life sentence on March 27, 2011 for the killing of Sergio Orsi, a separate 2008 case. In October 2011 he received 29 years for mafia-type association, attempted murders, extortion and an arms offense. In 2019 he was sentenced at first instance to 9 years for simulating a crime in connection with the medical certificates that had won him house arrest. He is living and is held in Italy.
The Casalesi are the Camorra group of the Caserta area. In 2008 their leading figure, Francesco Schiavone, was in custody, and investigators described Setola as a man trying to take command of the clan in that period. He was known by then as an armed enforcer for the clan. He had previous convictions, including one for external complicity in a mafia-type association.
In January 2008 the Assize Court granted Setola house arrest on medical grounds, in Pavia, near a clinic where an ophthalmologist worked. The doctor had certified a serious condition of his right eye. Prosecutors later said Setola never had that condition and that his real problems, from a childhood injury, concerned the other eye. The doctor was sentenced at first instance in February 2019 to 10 years and 6 months for external complicity in a mafia-type association and false statements to judicial authorities; Setola received 9 years for simulation of a crime. A former lawyer of Setola, by then cooperating with prosecutors, testified in 2017 that the report was dated February 2007 and that an advance had been paid to the doctor.
Setola left the house arrest in April 2008 and went into hiding. He remained a fugitive until January 2009, and the killings of that period were judged in separate proceedings.
Domenico Noviello was killed at Castel Volturno on May 16, 2008. Setola was among the defendants charged with his murder, and in October 2014 he appeared at the Santa Maria Capua Vetere court by video link for that trial. A co-defendant, Francesco Cirillo, was sentenced to life at first instance; the Naples appeal court acquitted him; the Court of Cassation sent the case to another section of the appeal court, which restored the life sentence in December 2019. The outcome of the charge against Setola is not on record, and the Noviello killing is not among his proven convictions.
On September 18, 2008 six men were killed at Castel Volturno: Kwame Antwi Julius Francis, Affun Yeboa Eric, Christopher Adams, El Hadji Ababa, Samuel Kwako and Jeemes Alex. One man survived the events at Castel Volturno and later joined the proceedings as a civil party. The court awarded him a provisional payment of 200,000 euros.
Prosecutors said the group acted under Setola's command and that he took part himself. The final judgment names him as both the person who ordered the killings and a direct participant.
Setola was arrested on January 14, 2009 after a period as a wanted fugitive; he had been listed among the thirty most wanted criminals in Italy. Within two weeks of the Castel Volturno killings, 107 arrests had been made.
The trial of Setola and four others began in November 2009 before the Assize Court of Santa Maria Capua Vetere. The prosecution asked for life imprisonment for four defendants and 30 years for the fifth. The Interior Minister of the day gave evidence. Setola made a statement to the court lasting 45 minutes before the judges withdrew: he denied involvement in the Castel Volturno killings and said he had committed only extortion.
The verdict came in mid-April 2011. The court sentenced Setola and three co-defendants to life imprisonment and the fifth defendant to a fixed term. The court recognized all three aggravating circumstances that had been charged, among them racial hatred and terrorist purpose. On March 27, 2011, a few weeks earlier, Setola and two of the same co-defendants had received a life sentence for the killing of Sergio Orsi.
The Court of Assize of Appeal of Naples confirmed the convictions in 2013 but excluded the aggravating circumstance of terrorist purpose. On January 30, 2014 the Court of Cassation rejected the appeals. Life imprisonment was confirmed for Setola, named as both the person who gave the order and a direct participant, and for the three others; the fifth defendant's term was confirmed at 28 years. The Court confirmed the aggravating circumstances of mafia method, racial hatred and trivial motives. In its reasons it found that the group acted without concern for anyone's safety and showed contempt for people of color.
On October 26, 2011 the Santa Maria Capua Vetere court sentenced Setola to 29 years for mafia-type criminal association, attempted murders, an offense under the arms law and extortion; prosecutors had asked for 30. Thirty-five defendants were tried in that case, and ten had died before the verdict. The court excluded the aggravating circumstance of terrorist method for all defendants.
On October 8, 2014, during the Noviello trial, Setola told the court by video link that he wanted to become a state witness, and asked to speak to a prosecutor that evening. At that date he was serving several life sentences under the strict regime applied to mafia bosses. In 2019 the Santa Maria Capua Vetere court gave him 9 years for simulation of a crime.
The Castel Volturno case passed through the three stages of Italian criminal procedure. The Assize Court (Corte d'Assise) of Santa Maria Capua Vetere heard it at first instance, the Court of Assize of Appeal of Naples heard the appeal, and the Court of Cassation, which rules on questions of law, closed it in January 2014. The Noviello case shows how the Cassation can reopen a matter: it set aside an acquittal on appeal and sent the file to another section of the appeal court, which restored a life sentence. A life sentence in these cases is the ergastolo, and the regime applied to mafia bosses is a stricter detention regime than ordinary custody.
Investigators attributed 18 killings between May and December 2008 to the group around Setola, among them those of Michele Orsi, Raffaele Granata, Antonio Ciardullo, Ernesto Fabozzi and Domenico Noviello, and of Antonio Celiento, killed at Castel Volturno on the evening of September 18, 2008. These are attributions. Setola's convictions cover the six Castel Volturno killings, final since 2014, and, at first instance, the killing of Sergio Orsi; no conviction of Setola for the other deaths has been found.
2007: medical report on Setola's eye dated February 2007 (later found false by prosecutors).
January 18, 2008: Assize Court grants Setola house arrest in Pavia.
April 2008: Setola leaves the house arrest and goes into hiding.
May 16, 2008: Domenico Noviello killed at Castel Volturno.
September 18, 2008: six men killed at Castel Volturno.
January 14, 2009: Setola arrested.
November 2009: trial begins at Santa Maria Capua Vetere.
March 27, 2011: first-instance life sentence for the killing of Sergio Orsi.
April 2011: life sentences for Setola and three co-defendants for the six killings.
October 26, 2011: 29 years for mafia-type association, attempted murders, extortion and an arms offense.
2013: Court of Assize of Appeal of Naples excludes terrorist purpose.
January 30, 2014: Court of Cassation confirms the life sentences.
October 8, 2014: Setola tells the court at the Noviello trial that he wants to cooperate.
February 2019: 9 years at first instance for simulation of a crime.
December 2019: life sentence restored for a co-defendant in the Noviello case.