Antonio Bardellino

Antonio Bardellino
Antonio Bardellino, Camorra boss of Caserta
Born	(1945-05-04)May 4, 1945 San Cipriano d'Aversa, Italy
Died	May 26, 1988(1988-05-26) (aged 43) Armação dos Búzios, Brazil
Nationality	Italian
Allegiance	Casalesi clan / Camorra

Antonio Bardellino (San Cipriano d'Aversa, May 4, 1945 – Armação dos Búzios, May 26, 1988) was a powerful Neapolitan Camorrista and boss of the Casalesi clan, having a prominent role in the organized crime in the province of Caserta during the 1980s. He was one of the last of the old style Camorra godfathers.

Originally from San Cipriano d'Aversa in the Province of Caserta, Bardellino was an important Cosa Nostra affiliate in the region of Campania. "Bardellino was the reference point of all Camorra clans, even the ones that could not stand him. With his charisma he managed to maintain a certain equilibrium in Campania", according to the pentito Pasquale Galasso. He was the founder of the Casalesi clan, around which for almost a decade moved a united confederation of families (Schiavone, Bidognetti, Zagaria, Iovine, Venosa) rooted in a large territory which extended from southern Lazio through the agro aversano (countryside near Aversa), to Naples.

He had close and powerful contacts within the Sicilian Mafia, initially with the Porta Nuova family of Pippo Calò. He was one of the few Camorra bosses who were also initiated in Cosa Nostra. Together with Lorenzo Nuvoletta and Michele Zaza he was sworn in to seal a pact on cigarette smuggling in 1975.