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The car was hidden far away. The two hitmen tasked with killing Damiano Pepe moved in the dark to reach the location of the ambush. The area of the “Lattughelle” district of Cassano where the 64-year-old boss resides is full of eyes and ears ready to register the arrival of intruders.
Arming an Ak 47 Kalashnikov and a 12 gauge rifle loaded with a “lupara”, they crossed a short area of countryside, positioning themselves behind some shrubs about ten meters away from the entrance gate of the building. They waited patiently, stroking the triggers of their well-oiled weapons. They remained silent, without smoking or speaking. Only gestures and a few whispers, waiting for the “prey”.
Someone followed the movements of “Tripolino” who left home with his partner, Silvana Sibarelli, 60 years old. The godfather did not imagine he was being observed and followed. He couldn’t have thought that two attackers would push into his territory, almost into the house that had been his refuge and safe haven for years.
Having arrived with the car in front of the building, Pepe and Sibarelli were hit by an avalanche of fire: 40 shots fired in rapid succession and concentrated towards the right side of the car. The killers were shooting and advancing slowly from that side, so much so that the club leader’s partner was devastated by the lead to the point of being partially disfigured. The 64-year-old managed to open the automatic gate and travel a few meters with the vehicle from which he then got out, despite his injuries, managing to escape.
The attackers were unable to hit him, failing the mission entrusted to them despite the volume of fire developed.
The danger of being intercepted, given the commotion caused, led them to move away quickly and desist. They left the area on foot, resuming the route they had previously followed to reach the well-hidden car along a nearby narrow road. The meticulous examination of the images filmed by the video surveillance systems installed in the area is helping the police to reconstruct the escape route chosen by the perpetrators of the ambush.
Tomorrow, meanwhile, it will be carried out by the prof. Biagio Solarino of the University of Bari, the autopsy on the body of Silvana Sibarelli: the forensic doctors will offer with their work a further key to understanding the dynamics of the facts. The analysis of the fatal wounds will clarify even better the direction from which bullets and buckshot arrived and remained stuck in the victim’s body. In the meantime, Damiano Pepe’s clinical conditions remain stable and the man is not in danger of dying.
The ambush he was subjected to represents the throwing down of a gauntlet to the entire criminal hierarchy that has dominated the Sibaritide for fifteen years. The line of command imposed on Cassano, Sibari, Corigliano, Rossano, Castrovillari, Trebisacce, Villapiana is called into question by two different ambushes: the one committed against Domenico Forastefano, understood as “u pisciaiuolo” father of Pasquale known as “the animal” currently detained under the 41 bis regime and considered head of the family of the same name, carried out in October 2025; and that to Pepe considered head of the Pepe-Abbruzzese family. Who wants to take power?
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