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A murder that could reopen the conflict that has been going on for years and which lives through periods of apparent calm and then suddenly reignites, between the Abbruzzese and the Forastefano, two ‘Ndrangheta names that inspire fear in the Sibaritide, in the upper Ionian area of Cosenza. This is the fear of investigators after the ambush carried out in the night between last Friday and Saturday in the Lattughelle district of Cassano allo Ionio, in which 64-year-old Damiano Pepe, referred to as a boss of the “gypsy gang”, was injured and his partner Silvana Sibarelli, 60, was killed. The investigation documents will therefore be passed to the Catanzaro DDA, perhaps as early as today.
The mafia matrix and Pepe’s past
There seems to be no doubt about the mafia origin of the ambush, both in terms of the methods – around thirty shots from a long gun, perhaps even a Kalashnikov, fired by two hitmen – and the personality of the target. Pepe, known as “Tripolino”, was released from prison in 2019 after serving 26 years in prison for murder and mafia association. His brother, Edoardo, who took over from the detained Damiano, was killed on 3 October 2002 in an ambush carried out with shots from a rifle loaded with buckshot. Fioravante Abbruzzese, another prominent member of the gang, died together with him.
The police investigations
This morning the man, hospitalized and guarded for security reasons in the Cosenza hospital, was heard by the Carabinieri investigators dealing with the case. Whether he responded or what he may have said is covered by strict confidentiality.
The Carabinieri investigators of the Investigative Unit of the Cosenza Provincial Command and of the Cassano Company, meanwhile, have begun to view the images of the video surveillance systems present throughout the area in search of a clue, even minimal, that could direct the investigations towards a well-defined lead to trace the identity of the murderers.
The investigators have no doubt that the target of the hitmen was Pepe. Sibaritide, among other things, is an area where gang hitmen have no qualms about killing even innocent people in order to complete their mission of death. This is what happened to Antonella Lopardo, 49 years old, killed on May 2, 2023, in the Sibari hamlet of Cassano, because she approached the window after two hitmen had rang the doorbell with the aim of killing her husband Salvatore Maritato, believed to be linked to the Forastefanos. The assassins, seeing a shadow behind the window, fired, thinking they would hit their target.
The appeal of Libera, the mayor and the bishop
While waiting for the investigations to take their course, Libera Calabria speaks of «a suffocating presence of organized crime which deserves an immediate reaction and particular attention from the State and all healthy forces» recalling that the history of the innocent victims of the mafia «clearly teaches that every space left to oppression and violence is a defeat for an entire community». Hence the adhesion to the appeal launched by the mayor of Cassano Gianpaolo Iacobini, and by the bishop Francesco Savino to participate, tomorrow at 4 pm, at the Teatro Comunale, in a “strong moment of denunciation of violence and public assumption of responsibility”.