NAPLES - - A luxury watch thief was shot and killed in a presumed underworld murder on Wednesday night, police said. Pasquale Sesso, 44, was targetted in an ambush in the Santa Lucia area of Naples, according to police. The slaying happened on Via Solitaria, on the corner with Via Santa Lucia. The victim was struck by one of 10 gunshots fired while he was on a scooter on Via Solitaria. Sesso was transported to the Vecchio Pellegrini hospital where he later died from his injuries. 

 Investigators do not believe that the 44-year-old luxury watch robber belongs to any particular Camorra Mafia clan, even though, according to information obtained by the Neapolitan newspaper Il Mattino, Sesso had recently been trying to climb the ladder of the underworld in the Pallonetto area of Naples.

 Until recently, the drug-dealing areas of the hill above Santa Lucia were in the hands of the Elia clan, but when the gang was wiped out by the police and the judiciary, the unfilled space sparked unrest between certain groups. According to Il Mattino, these gangs, previously dedicated to other criminal activities (such as robbing luxury watches), were determined to grab the abundant profits from the sale of drugs.

 The incident is currently being investigated by the Mobile Squad of the Naples Police Headquarters.

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