Artem Tkachuk, and 18-year-old originally from Ukraine, played the role of teen gangster Tyson in the film, based on a novel by renowned investigative journalist and mafia expert Roberto Saviano.
Tkachuk was attacked at around 3:00 am on Sunday morning after a night out in the seafront neighbourhood of Chiaia with a friend, local media reported on Monday.
The actor was stabbed twice in the stomach while his friend was beaten.
Neither suffered life-threatening injuries.
Police believe Tkachuk may have been targeted because of his role in the film, directed by Claudio Giovannesi, which won a Silver Bear best screenplay award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
Italy’s far-right League party is backing a bill which would lower the age of criminal responsibility in the country from 14 to 12, which it says would tackle the phenomenon of young people joining gangs at an ever-lower age.
According to the National Observatory on Childhood and Adolescence, 6.5 per cent of youngsters in Naples – home to the Camorra crime group – belong to gangs.
Anti-mafia author Saviano has lived under armed guard since publishing his international bestseller Gomorrah in 2006, which exposed the Neapolitan mafia.
