A bloody Mafia feud could be reignited after the body of the son of a crime boss was discovered in a burnt out car.
Antonio Strangio, 42, was missing for a week before his body was found in a burnt out SUV in San Luca, Italy – the ‘spiritual home’ of the deadly ’Ndrangheta, which dominates the global drug trade.
The mob’s roots are in the Italian region of Calabria, but they have reportedly expanded to more than 40 countries worldwide and continue to grow at a steady rate.
They are involved in a wide range of organised criminal activities, from drug trafficking and money laundering to extortion and the rigging of public contracts.
Michele Albanese, a local journalist who has lived under police protection due to his reporting on the Mafia, warned that the situation could become ‘hellish’ if Strangio’s death was related to a long-running feud with another family.
Strangio’s father, Giuseppe, runs a branch of the family known as the ‘barbarians’ for their violent tendencies.
Antonio Nicaso, a professor of organised crime at Rome university, told local media: ‘If this was an attack on the Strangios, repercussions would be inevitable.
‘We will know soon enough. The ‘Ndrangheta has always known how to communicate effectively without using many words.’
Giuseppe Strangio, the father of the slain Antonio, kidnapped Cesare Casella in 1988 and held him captive for two years before releasing the teenager.
The ‘Ndrangheta mafia had 19 of their members arrested earlier this year, after a criminal ring was found to be behind extortion, assault and drug trafficking.
Unlike other mafia syndicates, ‘Ndrangheta operate as a loose conferate of hundreds of groups rather than one unified ‘family’.
There are estimated to be around 10,000 members worldwide, with most operating in the southern Reggio Calabria region.
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