The probable murder of the son of an Italian mafia boss has sparked fears it could reignite a ‘hellish’ feud between two clans of ‘Ndrangheta mobster families.
Farmer Antonio Strangio has been missing for more than a week after his burnt out SUV was found in the countryside near San Luca.
Charred bone fragments, a necklace, and some teeth were found in the vehicle.
Italian police are trying to ascertain whether they belong to the missing father-of-four, 42, but his family appear to believe they do and have already posted death notices.
Calabrian journalist Michele Albanese says the situation could turn ‘hellish’ if Strangio was killed as he said ‘at the very least the community has been plunged back into fear’.
The notorious San Luca feud between the Pelle-Vottari and Nirta-Strangio families started with a carnival prank in 1991 that prompted a string of killings, including the 2006 Christmas Day execution of the wife of a Strangio family mobster.
Notorious mobster Santo Vottari was sentenced in 2017 to 10 years two years after he went on the run for the killings.
Antonio Strangio has been missing for more than a week after his burnt out SUV was found in the countryside near San Luca
Italian police are trying to ascertain whether the remains belong to the missing father-of-four
A view of San Luca village in the southern region of Calabria taken on 16 August 2007
Strangio was part of the Nirta-Strangio clan but belonged to another branch of the family called ‘the barbarians’, reported The Times, which are known for their ferocity.
His father Giuseppe Strangio, 70, was involved in the kidnap for ransom of Cesare Casella in Pavia in 1988, who was aged 19 at the time.
He was held captive for more than two years before his release. Strangio was arrested after being wounded in the foot during a shootout with police.
Antonio Nicaso, a professor of organised crime at Rome university, said: ‘If this was an attack on the Strangios, repercussions would be inevitable. Their “inquiries” are not as slow as those of the police,’ he told La Repubblica.
‘We will know soon enough. The ‘Ndrangheta has always known how to communicate effectively without using many words.’
Notoriously ruthless, the ‘Ndrangheta has surpassed Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra in influence thanks to its control of Europe’s cocaine trade.
Notorious mobster Santo Vottari was sentenced in 2017 to 10 years two years after he went on the run for the killings
An image grabbed from a video handout by the press office of the Italian Carabinieri Police Forces on December 19, 2019 shows an undated meeting of bosses of the southern ‘Ndrangheta mafia
The organisation is made up of numerous village and family-based clans based in the rural, mountainous and under-developed ‘toe’ of Italy’s boot.
The name ‘Ndrangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty and the organisation’s secretive culture and brutal enforcement of codes of silence have made it very difficult to penetrate.
But authorities claimed a major breakthrough in 2016 when they captured Ernesto Fazzalari, whom they described at the time as the last senior ‘Ndrangheta fugitive still at large.
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