with the death of Antonio Bardellino the unquestioned boss of the organization everything fell apart it was the end of the balance of power that had been established in the organization among the various clans that had allowed it to expand so rapidly over the course of a few years to create a vast and articulated economic empire with a worldwide presence that not even the Sicilians had ever been able to establish an empire that extended from South America to eastern Europe fed by drug trafficking arms trafficking and corrupt public works contracts with the profits invested in our town and surrounding areas in construction in hotels in farms and agriculture cheese making cement plants industrial earth moving companies factories of every sort not to mention the more traditional underworld activities like shakedown and protection prostitution and gambling the organization took a ten percent cut on these activities

the balance of power had begun to break down because of a disagreement that at first seemed trifling a disagreement between one of Antonio Bardellino’s nephews called Antonio Salzillo who was something of a lieutenant a viceroy in Italy for his uncle who at this point was spending almost all his time in Santo Domingo a quarrel with Mario Iovine’s brother Mimmo over the payment of bribes that Mimmo had demanded from certain people who were in the territory of the Bardellinos and who were moreover people who could lay claim to Salzillo’s friendship Salzillo therefore considered this an act of hostility and an act that put him in a bad light therefore not something he could easily overlook and Salzillo after sending a series of warnings to Mimmo Iovine warnings that were ignored warnings to stop meddling in his territory decided to have him killed and it was this murder that unleashed a whole succession of other murders that ultimately led to the destruction of the organization and the death of its historic leaders

Mimmo Iovine was killed in an ambush in the street like ninety percent of the murders of this kind because going to the house where the target lives is considered too complicated first of all because it’s no simple matter and I’m not even saying to get into the house but to get near the house of a boss the houses of bosses nowadays have been turned into authentic bulletproof fortresses guarded on the outside by closed circuit TV cameras and armed patrols but also because going to the house means the risk of involving the family the wife and the children and therefore doing something that would cause outrage among the townspeople and so Mimmo Iovine who always traveled with an entourage of clan members and people who protected him was mowed down on the provincial road just outside Villa Literno as he was heading to his furniture factory in Castel-volturno he was killed in an ambush along with all his men