Italy: Mafia boss draws fans on Facebook

Giovanni Strangio

 

Rome, 29 June (AKI) – A notorious Italian mafia boss, Giovanni Strangio, has generated a “fan club” on the social networking website Facebook with around 80 members. Strangio is alleged to be a key member of the Calabrian mafia or ‘Ndrangheta and accused of masterminding the massacre of six people in the German city of Duisburg in August 2007.

The 30-year-old was arrested in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, in March and extradited to Italy to stand trial over the massacre which is believed to be linked to a bitter feud between two Calabrian crime families.

Many of the fans who visited Strangio’s Facebook page have defended his innocence and supported ‘Ndrangheta.

“Keep on going Giovanni Strangio.. carry forward the ‘Ndrangheta Calabrese.. we are the strongest,” one message said.

According to the Italian daily, Il Messaggero, the Facebook page was created by someone called Teo Mil, who included a biography of Strangio’s life calling him, “an Italian criminal and member of the ‘Ndrangheta…A fugitive since 2007 included on the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy as well as in Germany.”

But the creator’s name has been removed from the site which is now filled with messages both supporting and denigrating Strangio. Most messages are written in Italian.

Some people have left critical messages on the page for the mafia boss and his supporters.

“You all are an embarrassment, you’re the accomplice of an assassin, the rejects of society!” one said.

Strangio is believed to have masterminded and led the massacre in Duisburg on 15 August 2007, allegedly in revenge for the killing of his cousin Maria Strangio on Christmas Day 2006.

Police believe the killings are part of a long-running feud among members of the Calabrian mafia.

The six Duisburg victims were linked to the Pelle-Votari clan and gunned down outside a pizza restaurant.

The killers, including Strangio, are understood to be members of the rival Nirta-Strangio clan based in the Italian town of San Luca in Calabria.

San Luca is a small town in eastern Calabria, a rugged, poor province of southern Italy that forms the toe of the Italian peninsula.

Italy’s main criminal organisations are the Neapolitan Camorra, the Sicilian mafia, the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta and the Sacra Corona Unita in the southern Puglia region.

 thanks  ANSA

Mobster forfeits treasure trove

A multi-million-dollar treasure trove of art, jewels, ant iques, real estate and luxury cars was forfeited to Italian authorities yesterday by a man named as the longtime financier of the Mafia of Montreal.

“He is part of a criminal organization, the Mafia, but he has good taste,” said a spokesman for the Italy Direzione Investigativa Antimafia.

“We took away everything he had

Beniamino Gioiello Zappia, 71, known as “Don Tito,” is currently imprisoned in Italy for gangsterism and financial crimes, after a probe by the Rome-based anti-Mafia police targeted the European operations of the Rizzuto organization, a Mafia clan based in Montreal that has already been called the “pinnacle of organized crime” in Canada by the RCMP.

 

Earlier this year, police found hundreds of pieces of artwork, antiques and archaeological artifacts at Zappia’s homes in Milan and in Cattolica Eraclea, the Sicilian village that is also the hometown of Vito Rizzuto, the head of the Mafia in Montreal. The material was turned over to an Italian cultural office for identification and storage

read more Adrian Humphreys

Los Angeles crime family Anthony Fiato

Anthony Fiato aka  “The Animal” aka “Tony Rome.”  Anthony fiato was a  feared and vicious  street boss in the Los Angeles Crime Family.   Fiato’s crew was  the enforcing arm of  the  Family.

  

  Anthony  Fiato was a  predominant force  in the  Los Angeles Underworld. Fiato had strong ties to Patriarca Crime Family leaders,  Jerry Angiulo,  Nick Bianco, and JR Russo.

 

                 Fiato’s  wealthy Jewish partner  Puggy Zeichick bankrolled a seven figure juice loan operation that was backed by Anthony Fiato’s Mafia muscle.  Fiato flipped  to FBI informant, and wore a wire on  many of  his close  Mafia Cohorts.