A CHINESE Triad crimelord and his wife have been shot dead in a mafia-style execution in Rome.
Zhang Dayong, 53, also known as “Asheng,” was found dead alongside his partner Gong Xiaoqing, 38, outside their home in the eastern Roman neighbourhood of Pigneto, cops said.
AFP – GettyA police official said the killings may be linked to the so-called ‘Coat Hanger Wars’[/caption]
Investigators said Dayong worked for Naizhong Zhang (pictured) – a Chinese-Italian crime boss on trial in Florence
The couple were returning home on bikes when the gun-wielding killers approached them on a motorcycle, local media reports.
They fired least six gunshots, hitting the backs of their heads, other reports add.
Investigators said Dayong worked for Naizhong Zhang – a Chinese-Italian crime boss on trial in Florence following an investigation into accusations he coordinated illegal operations across Italy, France, Germany, and Spain.
Zhang had accumulated a near-monopoly in distribution of goods across much of Europe through threats and violence against Chinese company owners, anti-mafia prosecutors revealed.
And Dayong was involved in managing underground gambling, loan-sharking and enforcement operations in the capital, according to prosecutors.
Dayong was seen as a central figure in a 2018 investigation dubbed “China Truck” – an anti-mafia operation led by Florence prosecutors that unveiled the activities of Chinese trafficking gangs in Prato, close to Florence.
A police official said the killings may be linked to the so-called “Coat Hanger Wars” which has escalated in recent years.
The Wars represent a violent struggle between Chinese criminal factions originally centred in Prato for the lucrative fashion logistics market.
The couple’s murder is said to represent a larger power struggle among Chinese cartels.
Such criminal activity has spread beyond Prato and has infiltrated other parts of Europe, like Madrid and Paris.
Prato alone has seen the rate of violent incidents rocket, including assaults, arson attacks and attempted murders – all of which point to the escalation of the ongoing deadly feud.
In December, The Sun unveiled shadowy mobsters with an iron grip on the world’s drug trade and who are Italy’s most secretive mafia looks and set for a civil war.
The ‘Ndrangheta, infamous for their ruthless executions, kidnappings and extortion, are said to be worth tens of billions of dollars and have infiltrated almost every part of Italian society through cocaine smuggling.
The gangsters, made up of 40 different family clans in the southern region of Calabria, are reeling from the death of dad-of-four Antonio Strangio.
The 42-year-old farmer had been missing for over a week and just days ago, remains found in a burnt-out SUV, in San Luca, were confirmed to be his.
Antonio, who was identified from charred bone, a necklace and some teeth, was the son of Guiseppe Strangio – the crime boss in charge of a ‘Ndrangheta faction known as the ‘Barbarians’.
The 70-year-old mafia don was involved in Italy’s most famous kidnapping case in 1988, when 19-year-old Cesare Casella was held in a secret bunker for two years by the mob.
Cesare’s wealthy family paid one billion pounds for his release.
Guiseppe was also jailed for 14 years for murder in 1974 and is said to have been at the centre of other major ransom schemes, including that of industrialist Carlo De Feo.
Carlo, a 40-year-old businessman from Naples, was held for over a year before being freed when his family agreed to pay £1.5million
The couple were found dead outside their home in Pigneto Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
