Inside brutal mafia clan who slaughter dolphins & force traitors to drink acid… as gruesome death of don’s son fuels war

They are shady gangsters that have a firm hold on the global drug trade, and the most covert mafia in Italy now appears to be on the verge of a civil war.

Known for their brutal killings, kidnappings, and extortion, the Ndrangheta is said to be worth tens of billions of dollars and has smuggled cocaine into practically every aspect of Italian culture.

The death of father-of-four Antonio Strangio has left the criminals in the southern Calabrian region, which are composed of 40 distinct family clans, in shock.

Remains discovered in a burned-out SUV in San Luca a few days ago were identified as those of the 42-year-old farmer who had been missing for more than a week.

Antonio was the son of Guiseppe Strangio, the criminal leader of the “Barbarians,” a group of ‘Ndrangheta who were identified by burnt bone, a necklace, and a few teeth.

The 70-year-old mafia don was a part of the most well-known kidnapping case in Italy in 1988, when the mob imprisoned 19-year-old Cesare Casella in a covert bunker for two years.

One billion pounds was paid by Cesare’s affluent family to secure his freedom.

In addition to serving a 14-year prison sentence for the 1974 murder, Guiseppe is alleged to have been at the heart of many significant ransom plots, including the one involving entrepreneur Carlo De Feo.

After his family agreed to pay 1.5 million, Carlo, a 40-year-old businessman from Naples, was released after more than a year of detention.

An expert on the Ndrangheta and novelist from Hampshire, Alex Perry, told The Sun that retaliation for Strangio’s murder would be brutal and gruesome and might lead to a mafia internal conflict.

If it turns out to be murder, he continued, no one will contact the police, but justice will be served inside the ‘Ndrangheta, and there will undoubtedly be agonizing violence.

It will be as painful as the murderers can make it.

It might not be immediate retaliation since they are prepared to wait until they can incite the greatest amount of indignation, such as right after a wife gives birth or on a person’s birthday.

This has the potential to rekindle a feud that has existed for 20 years and will continue for decades. They murder one another far more frequently than anyone else.

They are dreadfully aggressive. Mafia legends are always romantic, but the Ndrangheta put an end to it.

Antonio Nicaso, an organized crime professor who currently resides in Toronto, stated: “There would be unavoidable consequences if this had been an attack on the Strangios. Police ‘inquiries’ are slower than theirs.

We’ll find out soon enough. The ‘Ndrangheta has always been adept at communicating clearly and succinctly.

The family-led mob is notorious for its brutal medieval-style murders, including exploding a man in a vehicle bomb over a land dispute with his father and forcing a deceived lady to drink a vat of acid.

Murder, violent ambushes, burning cars, and even animal slaughter—puppies, dolphins, and goats have all been decapitated or killed in terrifying warnings—have all been among their crimes.

Along with other Calabrian clans embroiled in a conflict that resulted in a mass massacre in Germany the previous year, the Strangio family was hit by a huge asset seizure in February 2008.

A gunman from the Strangio clan opened fire outside a restaurant, killing six members of the Pelle-Romeo criminal family, including an 18-year-old who was celebrating his birthday.

The killing, known as the Duisburg massacre, was retaliation for the murder of a mobster’s wife a year prior in a quarrel that started when a firework was thrown during a festival in San Luca, the hometown of both clans.

The bodies of the six victims contained about 70 shots.

As brave whistleblowers went on record to reveal the atrocities committed by the company, 200 members of the clan were imprisoned last year.

Under the protection of armed police, a court in Rome heard about the practice of leaving dead animals on the doorsteps of rivals and locals. Corrupt police officers were bribed, and their influence over local officials allowed them to reroute water supplies to cultivate marijuana and transport drugs in ambulances that were desperately needed.

Sara Scarpulla, a distraught mother, described to the jury how her son Matteo Vinci, a Limbadi scientist, was killed in an automobile bomb in April 2018.

She claimed to have seen the family dogs’ heads thrown onto her property’s roof after they were decapitated when she returned home.

The Ndrangheta maintain their reign of terror in spite of the arrests, but they lead strange, reclusive lifestyles.

‘Group of goat-herders’

The demise of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, immortalized in the film The Godfather, gave rise to the family-led mafia.

The cocaine trade exploded throughout Europe in the 1980s, and the Calabria families assumed control of it as Italian police battled the Cosa Nostra.

According to Perry, the acquisition surprised the authorities, who had written off the Ndrangheta clans as a bunch of goat herders who tied their pants with string.

They established a brand-new drug trafficking route from South America to Europe after seizing power and distributing people throughout Latin America and West Africa. According to the author, the use of Coke skyrocketed, going from being a rare drug to one that could be found in any nightclub.

Since then, they have influenced every facet of local life in the boot of Italy, assuming local contracts for garbage management and building.

The older mafia still reside in dilapidated homes on the mountainside with no visible signs of wealth, but operating a sophisticated criminal enterprise valued at an estimated $5 billion annually, which is equal to Croatia’s GDP.

In the wealthy north of the country, younger generations either work on the land or travel overseas to earn business degrees and find employment.

“They have grown into a worldwide company, but they have remained local in these small Calabrian villages, up in the mountains, or they live in pretty gloomy seaside towns,” Perry added.

They have a distinct accent, are exceedingly secretive, and place a strong emphasis on family—almost in a cult-like manner.

They have transformed the ties of love and loyalty into a criminal enterprise. Since it would be betraying the people they love, they hardly ever report on one another.

These families are wealthy millions, yet when you visit San Luca, where the majority reside, you see that everything is gloomy and impoverished.

They steal the money from state contracts for hospitals, water, and roads, but they never provide any public services. They purchase water bottles, power their homes with generators, and take flights abroad for medical care if necessary.

To anyone who studies them, the motivation is a mystery, and there is a purposeful sorrow to the whole thing.

People who are born into these homes are brainwashed and only know crime. Although they don’t spend their money, the goal is to be the biggest and wealthiest person in the town.

It’s like local celebrity gone crazy.

Perry described how a son told his father, “All the money I’ve buried has gone rotten,” after Italian police wiretapped a mafia family.

He stated: “Don’t worry, we have plenty,” was all the father responded. Everything is so strange.

They are the furthest thing from the ostentatious mob in Naples.

Some of the younger generation attends American universities to study business before returning to Italy to work for businesses that will benefit their families.

When Italian police learned that they had successfully infiltrated important Milanese enterprises, they were astounded.

Helicopters and armed cops known as the Squadron Hunters of Aspromonte are part of a crack police operation to take down the gang.

The mafia families visit a local church in San Luca every year as part of a pilgrimage, where they socialize with the community.

Police officers frequently wiretap and record the event as participants gather in corners and discuss their accomplishments in whispers.

The 2023 court case heard how the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Polsi church became a chance to ‘baptise’ new members, discuss strategy and pray.

In the early 2000’s the local priest Don Pino Strangio – dubbed the ‘mafia priest’ by Italian media – had his car firebombed to test his allegiance to the mafia.

Revenge killings

There are those who have stood up to the gang – but for many, it has cost them their lives.

The mother of kidnap victim Cesare Casella bravely stood in the square of San Luca, wearing a sign pleading for the return of her teenage son.

Three womenbecame some of the first to testify against the gangstersin 2002 but two paid with their lives.

Mother of three Maria Concetta Cacciola, 31, was forced to drink a highly corrosive acid and suffered an agonising death when her family caught up with her.

Lea Garofalo, 34, lived in witness protection for four years but mob bosses tracked her down and she was lured to Milan by estranged partner Cosco under the pretence of a reunion.

She was murdered and her body taken to a remote part of Lombardy where it was burned over three years, leaving just fragments behind.

The women s story was recounted in a Disney+ crime drama The Good Mothers, based on a book by Perry.

He said: The Ndrangheta are horrendously violent. They kind of reject education so the men are inarticulate and thuggish.

They are horribly misogynistic and violence against women is routine, girls are married off at 13 or 14, arranged by clan matches, and violence and revenge is horrific.

As Italy holds its breath to see if their biggest mafia will soon be at war, it could be tragic victim Lea Garofalo who could finally bring them down from beyond the grave.

For it s her testimony that she gave to police before she was murdered that is still being used in cases today and continues to see many finally brought to justice.

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