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On the 23 September, the Nazis conducted searches and arrested 22 persons from among innocent farmers in the military zone. An armed squad of Germans removed D'Acquisto from the station by force, and led him to Torre di Palidoro, where the hostages were gathered. An interrogation was held during which all the hostages said that they were innocent. When the Nazis again demanded to know the names of the responsible persons, D'Acquisto replied that there could not be any - the explosion was accidental, and the hostages or the other locals were utterly innocent. Nazis ridiculed, insulted, and beat him and tore his uniform. Suddenly, the hostages were handed shovels and forced to dig a mass grave for their own burial after execution. The digging went on for some time; when they were finished it was obvious the Germans would really carry out their threat. D'Acquisto then confessed to the alleged crime, declared that he alone was responsible for the murder and that the hostages were innocent, and demanded that they should be released right away. The 22 prisoners at once ran away, leaving the officer before the execution squad. Salvo D'Acquisto was killed when he was twenty three years old. His remains are preserved in the first chapel on the left, near the entrance, at the Church of St. Clara in Naples.