Woman killed by Kalashnikov in Calabria, alleged ‘Ndrangheta crime but the “real target was her husband”
The hypothesis is that it is a crime of ‘Ndrangheta and the victim is a woman. Antonella Lopardo, 49, was shot and killed on Tuesday evening in the Ciccotonno district in Sybaris Cassano allo Ionio (Cosenza). The victim did not open the door of the house, which was armored by the way, but was shot through a window. The woman was the wife of Salvatore Maritato, an alleged exponent of the Forastefano gang of the ‘Ndrangheta and real target of the ambush. The killers, armed with a Kalashnikov and a pistol, fired when they glimpsed a shadow looming from behind a curtain through a window. And believing that it was that of Maritato, who, by the way, was in the same room, they opened fire. To complicate the situation, then, was the darkness that reigned in the area. It is to be excluded, among other things, that the killers fired knowing that the shots would have reached and killed the woman. Hence the founded hypothesis that the two assassins actually wanted to kill Salvatore Maritato. An action that investigators are closely examining motive and dynamicto. Also because the criminal personality of Salvatore Maritato, not particularly marked, would not justify, according to what emerged from the first investigations, such a blatant homicidal action. The man had been involved in the “Omnia” investigation conducted by the Catanzaro DDA
The investigations are entrusted to the Carabinieri of the Compagnia di Cassano allo Ionio and those of the Provincial Command of Cosenza, coordinated Catanzaro anti-mafia prosecutor who initiated the investigation. Investigators are now trying to reconstruct the dynamics of the facts and to clarify what the origin of the crime could be. At the moment, the hypothesis could not even be ruled out, in the case of a murder linked to organized crime, that the target of the hitman – or hitmen, there are still no certainties on this – could be the victim’s husband. Today, according to what has been learned, the Public Prosecutor’s Office will appoint the coroner to perform the autopsy on the woman’s body. At the moment, nothing is known about the statements made to the carabinieri by Maritato, that he was at home with his wife at the time the murder was committed, while the couple’s daughter was outside. Maritato would have reported that he had not seen the killers in the face, also due to the darkness that reigned in the area, and he would not have provided any information on the possible reasons for the ambush.
https://news.italy24.press/local/514185.html
