Operation “Feudo/Sibilla” – Seizure of Lake d’Averno
On 9 July 2010, in the frame of operation “Feudo”, in the province of Caserta, some personnel of  the DIA’s Field Office of Naples executed a preventive emergency order of seizure of assets referable to CARDILLO Gennaro, a well-known restaurant owner in the coastal area of Pozzuoli, close to the SETOLA clan, on whose behalf he laundered large amounts of money.
In particular, the seizure order concerned the shares and entire assets of several companies, most of which were companies operating in the leisure and catering sectors.
Said measure, along with the seizure carried out in the previous month of June, allowed the DIA of Naples to deprive the clans from assets worth an estimated 25 million Euros.
In May 2011, in the frame of the same investigation, asset-related precautionary measures for approximately 7 million Euros and 10 personal precautionary measures were executed.
Among one of the companies’ assets seized is the natural lake called ‘Lake d’Averno’, of undoubted tourist, cultural and economic value, located in the municipality of Pozzuoli (NA), with an artistic, wildlife and archaeological-landscape heritage including the famous “Antro della Sibilla”. This property was definitively returned to the State following the Decree of release from seizure issued by the Court of Naples on 4 October 2011, which ordered the lifting of the preventive seizure and the consequent return of the lake to State property.
The investigative activities turned out to be particularly fruitful also thanks to the statements of a collaborator of justice, a local businessman known for his activity in the waste cycle sector, who was able to offer valuable contributions for his knowledge of both the organisational structure of the criminal association of which he was a member, the BIDOGNETTI clan, and of the connections of this clan with the local businessmen and administrators.