Fears of new mafia bloodbath as son of Italian family dubbed The Barbarians is ‘found dead in a burned out SUV’… with last feud sparking DECADES of tit-for-tat assassinations including a wife shot dead on Christmas Day
The suspected murder of the son of an Italian mafia boss has sparked fears it could reignite a ‘hellish’ feud between two clans of ‘Ndrangheta gangster families’.
Farmer Antonio Strangio has been missing for over a week after his burnt-out SUV was found in the countryside near San Luca.
Charred bone fragments, a chain and some teeth were found in the vehicle.
Italian police are trying to determine if they belong to the missing father-of-four, 42, but his family appear to believe this is the case and have already posted obituary notices.
Calabrian journalist Michele Albanese says the situation could become “hellish” if Strangio was killed. He said that “at the very least, the community has been plunged back into fear.”
The infamous San Luca feud between the Pelle-Vottari and Nirta-Strangio families began in 1991 with a carnival prank that sparked a series of murders, including the Christmas Day 2006 execution of the wife of a Strangio family gangster.
Notorious gangster Santo Vottari was sentenced to ten years in 2017, two years after fleeing the murders.
Antonio Strangio has been missing for over a week after his burnt-out SUV was found in the countryside near San Luca
Italian police are trying to determine if the remains belong to the missing father of four
A view of the village of San Luca in the southern region of Calabria, taken on August 16, 2007
Strangio was part of the Nirta-Strangio clan, but belonged to a different branch of the family called ‘the barbarians’. The timeswho are known for their cruelty.
His father Giuseppe Strangio, 70, was involved in the kidnapping for ransom of Cesare Casella in Pavia in 1988, who was 19 years old at the time.
He was held captive for more than two years before being released. Strangio was arrested after being wounded in the foot during a shootout with police.
Antonio Nicaso, professor of organized crime at the University of Rome, said: ‘If this was an attack on the Strangios, repercussions would be inevitable. Their ‘investigations’ are not as slow as those of the police,” he said La Repubblica.
‘We’ll know soon enough. The ‘Ndrangheta has always known how to communicate effectively without using many words.’
Notoriously ruthless, the ‘Ndrangheta has surpassed the influence of Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra through its control of Europe’s cocaine trade.
Notorious gangster Santo Vottari was sentenced to ten years in 2017, two years after fleeing the murders
An image from a video release by the Italian Carabinieri Police press service on December 19, 2019 shows an undated meeting of southern ‘Ndrangheta mafia bosses
The organization consists of numerous village and family clans based in the rural, mountainous and underdeveloped ‘toe’ of the Italian boot.
The name ‘Ndrangheta comes from the Greek meaning courage or loyalty, and the organization’s secretive culture and brutal enforcement of its 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.