Dead horse, cows found on Italian business owners property in apparent mob move: Barbarity

Someone’s got beef.Butchered animals left on the property of a Sicilian businessman gave an intimidating message straight out of “The Godfather.”A horse’s head was placed inside a digger owned by a well-known construction contractor in Altofonte near the Sicilian capital of Palermo last week, according to reports.A butchered cow, along with its dead calf, were also found at the site.Police are investigating the disturbing incident as a mafia intimidation tactic and believe the victim may have been targeted after being made an offer he dared to refuse, such as paying protection money or following mob orders.The contractor claimed he had received warnings before finding the slain livestock, the Guardian reported.“I was petrified, I can’t comprehend such barbarity,” Angela De Luca, the mayor of Altofonte, told the outlet.

“This act seems to take us back to the Middle Ages, with its unacceptable methods.”Residents on the island fear 20 mafia members who recently finished their sentences and were released from prison and are seeking revenge could be behind the gruesome act.Using dismembered animals to intimidate victims long predates the scene from “The Godfather,” in which a character wakes up to find the severed head of his prized thoroughbred horse in his bed, according to experts.The mob uses it to terrorize victims and tap into the bonds it had with certain animals.The animals slain in Altofonte were from a neighboring property, according to officials.In May, a goat’s head was reportedly found in front of the home of an entrepreneur in Palermo and in 2023, a pig’s head was hung at the gate of a police station in the northeast city of Messina.The construction and garbage industries remain two of the most prominent business sectors in Sicily still plagued by mob activity, according to Italy’s Anti-Mafia Investigation Division....