Sentence of the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Catanzaro for the murder of Domenico Belsito occurred in 2004 in Pizzo Calabro, in the Vibo area. A ‘Ndrangheta crime which sanctioned the alliance between the Bonavota clan of Sant’Onofrio and the Vibo Valentia group led by Andrea Mantellasince May 2016 among the main collaborators of justice.
The accused Nicola Bonavota passes from the 30 year sentence in first instance to a sentence of 18 years and 6 months. Eight years’ imprisonment (instead of 30 years’ imprisonment) was imposed on the accused on appeal Francesco Fortuna of Sant’Onofrio (for a few months he spent among the collaborators of justice and hence the sentence reduction), while he was sentenced to a 2-year sentence on appeal Andrea Mantella.
Belsito was wounded by gunfire while he was in a bar in Pizzo and died two weeks later in hospital in Vibo Valentia. According to the prosecution, it was the shooter Francesco Scrugli, who was also killed in Vibo Marina in 2012.
The murder of Domenico Belsito, according to the Catanzaro DDA, would have resulted from internal dynamics within the clans, engaged in an internal struggle within the ‘ndrangheta family of the Bonavota of Sant’Onofrio to better define the division of the territories of competence. The victim would also have been punished for a romantic relationship not appreciated by the leaders of the Sant’Onofrio clan.