Francesco Mallardo, known in the criminal underworld as "Ciccio ‘e Carlantonio," was born and raised in
Giugliano in Campania, a town in the metropolitan area of Naples. His entry into organized crime was shaped early on by a traumatic event: on August 2, 1967, when he was still a teenager, his father Domenico Mallardo, a small-time cigarette smuggler, was murdered outside their home near Piazza Annunziata. The ambush, carried out with a sawn-off shotgun, was later attributed to one of the sons of local boss Alfredo Maisto and his associates, including Corrado Iacolare, a notorious figure within
Raffaele Cutolo’s
Nuova Camorra Organizzata. The killing marked a turning point in Francesco's life. In the aftermath, he began engaging in petty crimes, progressing quickly to armed robbery and prostitution rackets. While his younger brother Giuseppe initially attempted to follow a legitimate path as an upholsterer, he too would eventually join the criminal operations led by Francesco. In the early 1970s, Francesco found limited room for expansion in Giugliano and began establishing his presence in the city of
Naples. He frequented the Vasto and
Arenaccia neighborhoods, where he forged critical alliances with emerging crime figures
Edoardo Contini and
Patrizio Bosti. These relationships were strengthened by family ties, as all three men married sisters from the Aieta family. Francesco also formed a close bond with
Gennaro Licciardi from
Secondigliano, known as "Gennarino ‘a Scigna," a partnership that would later prove foundational. At the same time, he connected with
Francesco Bidognetti, then a young criminal from
Casal di Principe who specialized in prostitution rings. Bidognetti would become a loyal and violent enforcer for what would soon be known as the
Mallardo clan. Alongside his brother Peppe and cousins Feliciano Mallardo and
Giuseppe Dell'Aquila (known as "Peppe ‘o Ciuccio"), Francesco founded the clan that would eventually dominate the Giugliano area. The real consolidation of his power began after the death of Alfredo Maisto in 1976. When Alfredo’s son Luigi assumed leadership of the Maisto clan, Francesco saw an opportunity. On October 22, 1978, he orchestrated an ambush in Piazza Matteotti, Giugliano, which resulted in the assassination of Luigi Maisto. The killing ignited a violent feud between the Mallardos and the Maistos, paralleling the broader war between the
Nuova Famiglia, of which Francesco was a founding member, and the
Nuova Camorra Organizzata. Throughout the 1980s, Francesco’s name became associated with numerous criminal enterprises and a ruthless campaign of violence. One of the most notorious incidents occurred in 1980, when an attempt to assassinate Bidognetti failed and instead caused the death of an innocent bystander, Filomena Morlando. Despite the bloodshed, Francesco expanded his operations to include illegal construction, extortion, and toxic waste trafficking, carving out control over local revenue streams and territory. In 1987, Francesco eliminated the last remnants of the Maisto clan by luring Antonio Maisto, Luigi’s brother, and two affiliates into a trap in
Villa Literno, where they were murdered and their bodies set on fire. From that moment, the Mallardo clan was the uncontested power in Giugliano. Francesco then turned inward, purging the organization of rival factions, including the powerful D’Alterio brothers in 1991, who had once served as armed enforcers for the clan. With his dominance now absolute, Francesco played a key role in the creation of the
Secondigliano Alliance, a coalition of three powerful Neapolitan clans: the Mallardos, the
Contini clan, and the
Licciardi clan. This alliance became one of the most structured and influential criminal organizations in
Southern Italy. In 1992, Francesco Mallardo was arrested during a coordinated police operation. While his ally Gennaro Licciardi would die a few years later in prison following complications from surgery, Francesco managed to escape from a hospital in Giugliano, where he had been held for health-related treatment. He returned to clandestine activity and continued directing his criminal empire, despite frequent clashes with law enforcement.
Arrest On 14 April 2000, he was arrested in a country house between Qualiano and Giugliano while attending a meeting of the so-called
Secondigliano Alliance. Among the 13 people arrested were
Patrizio Bosti and Feliciano Mallardo. They tried to escape but were blocked by the police. Francesco Mallardo had a heart condition and suffered a heart attack in the maximum security prison in
Parma. He escaped from custody from two hospitals, one in his hometown Giugliano, and from a clinic in
Pinerolo, near
Turin. He was arrested again on 29 August 2003. The police, who had been on his trail, discovered Mallardo's car on the A30 near
Nola and set up a road block. Mallardo, who was returning from a vacation with his family, pretended to stop but then suddenly accelerated, slightly injuring two policemen. Police then fired a few shots and hit a car tire. After a few hundred metres the car came to a standstill.
Death Mallardo died in
palliative care from a terminal illness while serving a 30-year prison sentence, on 29 May 2025, at the age of 74. ==References==