Antonio Bardellino (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔːnjo bardelˈliːno]; May 4, 1945 – May 26, 1988) was a powerful Camorrista and boss of the Casalesi clan, having a prominent role in the organized crime in the province of Caserta during the 1980s.

Originally from San Cipriano d'Aversa in the Italian province of Caserta, Bardellino was an important Cosa Nostra affiliate in the region of Campania.

[1] 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.

The rituals of affiliation remained as well as the rate of murders, but the leap in quality was the continued infiltration of the legitimate economy with the proceeds of illicit drug trafficking.

[5] In the 1980s, Bardellino realized that cocaine, not heroin, would become the more profitable drug and organized a trafficking operation smuggling it from Latin America to Aversa via his front business.

Bardellino's attitude soon marked him for death, and he would spend the last years of life in hiding outside Italy, including Spain, Brazil and Santo Domingo.

Two months later, events culminated with an attack at Torre Annunziata, an area infamous for its illegal activities, which led to the massacre of eight members of the Gionta clan allied with the Nuvolettas at the Circolo dei Pescatori (fisherman's club).

According to the official version of the story, on May 26, 1988, Antonio Bardellino was murdered by his right-hand man, Mario Iovine in his Brazilian home at Búzios, a beach side resort for the rich and famous in the State of Rio de Janeiro, as part of an internal feud within the Casalesi.

[14] His former ally Umberto Ammaturo, who turned state witness (pentito), also said Bardellino was still alive when he gave a rare interview to La Repubblica newspaper in May 2010.