Manhunt in Naples After 'Hole Gang' Robs Crédit Agricole and Escapes via Sewers

Italian authorities launched a manhunt on Friday, April 17, 2026, after a sophisticated gang of at least five robbers carried out a brazen midday heist at a Crédit Agricole branch in Piazza Medaglie d'Oro in the Vomero district of Naples on Thursday, April 16, holding 25 people hostage and escaping through the city's sewer system with the contents of dozens of safety deposit boxes. Three masked men entered the bank through the main entrance at around noon, arriving in a black Alfa Romeo Giulietta that was later found parked nearby with a fake paper license plate. Simultaneously, at least two accomplices emerged from a tunnel dug through the floor of a room adjacent to the vault, having bored up from the sewer network below. The gang herded all 25 employees and customers into an office, displaying weapons that were later recovered and identified as prop pistols indistinguishable from real firearms. After approximately two hours, firefighters cut a breach through a bulletproof glass window, allowing the Carabinieri to free all 25 hostages, none of whom required hospital treatment, though six sought medical attention for symptoms of severe shock. By the time the GIS special forces unit arrived by helicopter from Livorno and raided the premises around 5:00 p.m., detonating stun grenades inside, the robbers had already vanished back into the sewers with their loot.

Investigators suspect a well-organized group, possibly not Neapolitan Investigators described the operation as the work of a highly organized group, with sources telling the outlet Open that the gang's methods bore few precedents among comparable robberies in Italy. The robbers split into two coordinated teams — one to manage the hostages on the ground floor and one to work undisturbed in the vault — a tactic designed to buy maximum time before law enforcement could safely intervene. Investigators noted that the gang made no attempt to negotiate or surrender even after the hostages were freed, remaining inside the bank while continuing to ransack the safety deposit boxes. The exact number of participants remains unclear: three entered through the main entrance, while sources cited by Open put the underground group at between six and nine individuals, suggesting a total gang of up to twelve. Surveillance footage from inside the bank showed the robbers covering their faces with stockings, and some hostages described masks resembling the faces of cinema actors. One hostage told reporters the gang was composed and non-aggressive.

„They were not aggressive, it wasn't like what you see in some films. Evidently confident, yes, counting on our fear.” — Unnamed hostage via ANSA

Investigators are reviewing footage from cameras inside the bank and in the surrounding area, with particular focus on the stolen Alfa Romeo Giulietta, which may have been captured on street cameras before the robbers had their faces covered.

A 12-metre tunnel and a five-metre shaft dug over months Technicians from ABC, the Naples municipal water and sewerage company, working alongside Carabinieri investigators, discovered the full extent of the underground infrastructure the gang had constructed. The robbers had dug a 12-metre tunnel running parallel to the sewer pipe, then bored a 5-metre vertical shaft upward into the room adjacent to the vault. The sewer pipe itself was punctured approximately half a metre from the ground to provide access to the tunnel. ABC warned investigators of the urgent need to seal the excavation, stating that heavy rainfall before the closure could cause flooding and hydrogeological instability in the Arenella area, since Naples's sewers carry both sewage and rainwater and can fill rapidly during storms. Work to seal the tunnel was pending clearance from the Prosecutor's Office, with ABC technicians and speleologists conducting underground inspections using laser scanners. The scale and precision of the tunnel work led investigators to conclude the operation had been planned over an extended period, with sources suggesting the organization behind it may not be based solely in Naples.

12 (metres) — length of tunnel dug parallel to sewer pipe

Naples Bank Robbery — April 16–17, 2026: — ; — ; — ; — ; —

Naples's porous underworld has a history of sewer heists The robbery drew immediate comparisons to previous so-called "hole gang" attacks in Naples, a city whose historic subsoil is riddled with cavities, tunnels, and ancient passageways that have long made it vulnerable to this form of crime. According to Fanpage, a Deutsche Bank branch in the same Piazza Medaglie d'Oro had already been targeted by a hole gang on December 28, 2016, though that attempt was thwarted by police. ABC maintains regular technical contacts with banks and law enforcement, and on previous occasions has helped foil robberies in progress through inspection and predictive verification activities. In the case of the Crédit Agricole branch, however, investigators said there had been no warning signs: the underground area beneath the branch was considered stable and not subject to special monitoring. The installation of alarms for suspicious vibrations in bank premises is the responsibility of the credit institutions themselves, not the utility. Naples Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, who has served as Prosecutor of the Republic at the Naples Tribunal since October 2023, was among the senior officials who personally attended the scene.

The "banda del buco," or hole gang, is a recurring phenomenon in Italian urban crime, particularly in cities with extensive underground infrastructure. Naples sits atop a network of ancient Greek and Roman tunnels, quarries, and aqueducts that have expanded over centuries, making subsurface access to buildings relatively straightforward for those with knowledge of the system. According to Fanpage, a previous hole gang attempt at a bank in the same Piazza Medaglie d'Oro — targeting a Deutsche Bank branch — took place on December 28, 2016, and was stopped by police. ABC and the Municipality of Naples maintain a formal agreement with local banks, under which the banks fund periodic underground inspection and verification checks.

Several hundred customers gathered outside the branch on the evening of April 16 seeking information about the contents of their safety deposit boxes, whose value remains unknown and is known only to the individual owners. Some sources cited a potential loot figure of one million euros, though investigators have not confirmed any valuation. The Carabinieri's forensic specialists were examining the abandoned Alfa Romeo Giulietta, which sources described as stolen and fitted with a fake license plate printed on a sheet of paper, in the hope that street cameras may have captured the robbers' faces before they masked themselves.