He waited for him on the side of the road and when his target passed through that point in his car he fired several shots from a rifle loaded with ball and buckshot, killing him. This is how Domenico Oppedisano, 24 years old, a forestry worker, died in an ambush, killed on a farm road while he was going to work from home. The incident happened in a countryside area in the Prateria area, in San Pietro di Caridà, a town in the Reggino region, on the border with the province of Vibo Valentia. The young man was shot in the neck and chest. Although very serious, he did not die instantly. Some family members, hearing the shots, rushed to the scene of the ambush and after loading him into the car they desperately tried to take him to the Polistena hospital. A race that proved useless because the young man died before arriving at the hospital. The Carabinieri intervened at the scene of the murder to carry out investigations and to start investigations to trace the motive and perpetrators of the act. Oppedisano was traveling along the road in his Fiat Panda to go to work. The family has a forestry material business in the area. Married and father of a little girl who will be one year old in a few days, he had no criminal record. Investigators are not forthcoming about the motive.
One of the hypotheses being examined is that it may have been a murder by the 'Ndrangheta. The manner of the ambush, with the wait for the gunman – or hitmen, given that it has not yet been ascertained whether it was one or more people who shot – and the weapon used, lead one to think of this trail. Furthermore, from what has been learned, the victim's father is known to the police and has been involved in organized crime investigations in the past but has never been convicted for this. The work sector is also an element that gives investigators pause. The woodland sector is very popular with gangs and in the Reggio area, in the past, there have been crimes originating from the conflict over the control of logging and trade in timber. All elements that could push the magistrates of the Palmi Prosecutor's Office, who are coordinating the investigations, to send the file to the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Reggio Calabria. At the moment, however, no other hypotheses are discarded. The father, two brothers and some family members were interviewed by the police and the deputy prosecutor of Palmi Santo Melidona to try to understand if the victim could have clashed with someone and reconstruct his last hours of life in the hope of finding useful information to direct the investigations towards a well-defined path.