Son of Mafia boss found dead in car after going missing for a week leaving 'community plunged back into fear'
25 November 2024, 17:33
The son of a notorious Mafia boss has been found dead in a burnt-out SUV a week after going missing, sparking fears of an escalation in mob violence in rural Italy.
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Antonio Strangio, 42, son of 70-year-old mob boss Giuseppe Strangio, had been missing for a week before his body was found in the 'spiritual home' of the Ndrangheta gang, in San Luca, Italy.
The Ndrangheta gang, notorious for drug trafficking and money laundering, has branched out to 40 countries across the globe and continues to expand.
The organisation is located in several villages and family-based clans in the under-developed southern rural area of Italy.
Italian police were able to identify Strangio by finding bone fragments, a necklace, and some teeth inside of the vehicle.
His death has sparked a wave of fear in the region.
Calabrian journalist Michele Albanese said the situation could turn 'hellish' if Strangio was killed and 'at the very least the community has been plunged back into fear'.
Albanese currently remains under police protection due to previous reporting of this Mafia.
Strangio was part of a clan called 'the Barbarians' as well as the 'Nirta-Strangio'. He was the son of Giuseppe, a 70-year-old ringleader of the Barbarian gang.
Feuds between 'Ndrangheta and the Barbarian family began in 1991 when the wife of a Strangio family member was executed on Christmas Day in 2006 sparking a wave of tit-for-tat killings.
Santo Vottari was sentenced to 10 years in 2017 after he went on the run after the killings.
Antonio Nicaso, a professor of organised crime at Rome university, shared on social 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.’
