Gang War in Naples was director Pasquale Squitieri's fourth film after directing three spaghetti Westerns.[1] Fabio Testi was cast in the film as Tonino Russo after Squitieri saw him in Le Tueur with Jean Gabin.[1] Squitieri went to Paris to meet him despite his producers wanting to cast Massimo Ranieri and Martin Balsam for the roles.[1] Squitieri explained that he "didn't have anything against those actors, but I needed someone who would scare the audience when he came on the screen, and Fabio Testi, with his imposing physique, was just perfect."[1] Squitieri also cast Raymond Pellegrin, noting that Pellegrin "was my idol, he starred in a movie I adore, André Cayatte's Are We All Murderers?."[3] Squiteri also declared casting Jean Seberg was easy as she was Testi's girlfriend at the time.[3]
The film was shot at Incir-De Paolis in Rome and on location in Naples.[1]
Release
Gang War in Naples was distributed theatrically in Italy by Titanus on 24 August 1972.[1] The film grossed a total of 1,345,608,000 Italian lire domestically.[1] Film historian and critic Roberto Curti described the box office success of the film in Italy was to the Camorra what The Godfather was to film on the Sicilian mafia".[1]
It was distributed in France on 30 August 1972 with a 100-minute running time as Les tueurs a gages.[1]
