Giancarlo Siani
Encyclopedia
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, who was killed by the Camorra
Camorra
The Camorra is a Mafia-type criminal organization, or secret society, originating in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 18th century.-Background:...
, the Neapolitan crime organization.
He started to write in the magazine Osservatorio sulla camorra, and later as a stringer
Stringer (journalism)
In journalism, a stringer is a type of freelance journalist or photographer who contributes reports or photos to a news organization on an ongoing basis but is paid individually for each piece of published or broadcast work....
for Il Mattino
Il Mattino
Il Mattino is an Italian daily newspaper, founded in 1892 in Naples, Italy, by the journalists Eduardo Scarfoglio and Matilde Serao.Based on 2008 survey data from Accertamenti Diffusione Stampa, Il Mattino is the most read daily newspaper in Campania, and one of the most read in southern...
, the principal newspaper of Naples. He was assigned to the local area editor of Castellammare di Stabia
Castellammare di Stabia
Castellammare di Stabia is a comune in the province of Naples, Campania region, southern Italy. It is situated on the Bay of Naples about 30 kilometers southeast of Naples, on the route to Sorrento.-History:...
. He wrote articles about the links between organized crime, politicians and construction contracts.
Siani was killed on September 23, 1985, in Naples by the Camorra
Camorra
The Camorra is a Mafia-type criminal organization, or secret society, originating in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 18th century.-Background:...
, while approaching his apartment. At the time he was conducting an investigation of one of their leaders, Valentino Gionta. Gionta was the boss of the Gionta clan, a Camorra clan that was based in Torre Annunziata
Torre Annunziata
Torre Annunziata is a city and comune in the province of Naples, region of Campania in Italy. It is located at the Gulf of Naples at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius.-History:...
and controlled cigarette smuggling
Cigarette smuggling
Cigarette smuggling is the illicit transportation of cigarettes from an administrative division with low taxation to a division with high taxation for sale and consumption...
.
On June 10, 1985, three months before he was killed, Siani had revealed that the arrest of Valentino Gionta had been decided by Lorenzo Nuvoletta
Lorenzo Nuvoletta
Lorenzo Nuvoletta was the head of the Nuvoletta clan, a Neapolitan Camorra organisation operating from the town of Marano di Napoli, situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Naples.-The Nuvoletta clan:...
, head of the Nuvoletta clan
Nuvoletta clan
The Nuvoletta clan is a Neapolitan Camorra clan operating from the town of Marano di Napoli, situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Naples, southern Italy.-Background:...
, a rival Camorra clan. Siani was preparing a dossier on the Torre Annunziata massacre in August 1984, which left eight people killed and 24 wounded among the Gionta clan, allied with the Nuvolettas at the time. After the massacre tensions between the two clans had increased.
In 2000, Angelo Nuvoletta, Valentino Gionta and Luigi Baccante were sentenced in absentia to life in prison for ordering the murder, as well as the material killers Gaetano Iacolare, Ferdinando Cataldo, Armando Del Core and Ciro Cappuccio.
In 2009, the movie Fortapàsc based on his life story was released, directed by Marco Risi. The title is a reference to John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
's classic western, "Fort Apache
Fort Apache
-Places:* Fort Apache, Arizona* Fort Apache Indian Reservation, the White Mountain Apache tribe's reservation and former US Army cavalry post near Whiteriver, Arizona* Fuerte Apache, a housing project outside Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Military:...
," and the lawlessness of Camorra-ruled Naples.