Mafia bomb explodes in front of Italian prosecutor’s home

A bomb exploded in front of the home of the head prosecutor of the Italian city of Reggio Calabria yesterday, damaging the building but hurting no one, in an attack quickly ascribed to the local mafia.

“Apparently, they want to get back at me for having always done my job as a magistrate,“ prosecutor Di Landro told the Ansa news agency.

Mr Di Landro and his family were at home at the time of the attack.

“The ‘Ndrangheta is surely behind this, but it is not alone,” Vincenzo Macri, the prosecutor in the central town of Ancona told Italian Sky TG 24 news channel.

He was referring to the powerful ‘Ndrangheta Mafia syndicate, which is based in the southern region of Calabria but operates across Italy and internationally.

The bomb shattered the windows of the apartment complex and of nearby homes in a central part of the city and damaged the building’s entrance, according to Italian media.

In January a bomb exploded in front of the prosecutor’s office in Reggio Calabria.

“Since the January attack there has been a growing criminal and malevolent tension against me by organised crime,” Mr Di Landro said.

The January attack was also ascribed to the ‘Ndrangheta, but the bombers have not been identified.

“It is not hard to imagine that there is a direct connection between the bombing on January 3 and today’s,” Mr Macri said.

Italian police in July dealt a major blow to the ‘Ndrangheta, arresting more than 300 suspected members, among them 80-year-old Domenico Oppedisano who was reportedly elected to the top of the ‘Ndrangheta in 2009.

But Mr Macri said the bombing showed the syndicate’s strength had not been undermined.

“This attack disproves all of those that rush to say that the Mafia has been defeated and that the ‘Ndragheta was hit hard,” Mr Macri said.

In recent decades, the ‘Ndrangheta has become the largest and most feared of Italy’s four large organised crime syndicates, which include Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, the Camorra in the area of Naples and the smaller Sacra Corona Unita in the southeastern region of Puglia.