Antonio Strangio, fugitive, 44 years old, originally from San Luca, known as «’U meccanicu», was arrested in Duisburg, Germany,
Strangio must serve a sentence of five years of imprisonment imposed on him last December at the conclusion of the “Pollino” trial, in which he was involved because he was accused of cocaine trafficking between Calabria and Milan.
Strangio, in Duisburg, was currently working as a courier for a postal delivery company. It was during one of his work shifts that the fugitive was involved in a road accident while he was driving a van. Following the accident, the local police intervened on the scene and, in checking the identification documents of Strangio, who did not hide his identity, ascertained that the man was a fugitive.
Strangio only escaped by chance from the massacre in Duisburg, Germany, on August 15th 2007, in which six people were killed as part of the San Luca feud.
Strangio, considered by the investigators to be contiguous to the “Pelle-Vanchelli” gang, worked in 2007 in the “Da Bruno” restaurant, in the car park of which the massacre was committed. The investigators believe that precisely because of his family ties with the “Pelle-Vanchelli” Vottari» Strangio could have been one of the targets of the assassins, but he was saved by the fact that he left the place before midnight after finishing his work shift.
During the investigations and searches that followed the massacre, in the locker of Sebastiano Strangio, owner of the club and one of the six victims, an American-made assault rifle was found, while 280 357 magnum caliber cartridges were found in Antonio Strangio’s rifle. Furthermore, Strangio’s name also appears in the information on the anti-mafia investigation “Crimine”, conducted by the DDA of Reggio Calabria in September 2009.
The fugitive, in fact, was filmed while, driving his car, he went to Polsi on the occasion of the feast of the Madonna of the mountain, the day in which the most important ‘Ndrangheta gangs traditionally held a “summit” in the Aspromonte area.
Among other things, following the conviction for drug trafficking, a European arrest warrant was pending against Strangio, issued at the request of the District Prosecutor of Reggio Calabria, Giovanni Bombardieri, and the Deputy Prosecutor, Giuseppe Lombardo. Strangio, among other things, is linked by family relationships with leading exponents of the San Luca ‘Ndrangheta gang of the same name. In fact, he is the cousin of Francesco Pelle, known as “Ciccio Pakistan”, and of Antonio Pelle, alias “Vanchelli”. After Strangio’s arrest, the Reggio DDA initiated extradition proceedings against him in Italy.