Mafia murder at Sperone: Brancaccio's emerging boss killed

PALERMO – It was a mafia crime. The mafia aggravating circumstance is contested, in fact, in all the crimes culminating in the murder of Giancarlo Romano and the wounding of Alessio Caruso. The prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia and his deputies Enrico Bologna and Francesca Mazzocco ordered the arrest of three suspects: Camillo and Antonio Mira, father and son, and Caruso himself. What the men of the flying squad define as "two criminal groups" faced each other.

The spotlight had been on all the protagonists for some time. Romano is referred to as "a rising star in Brancaccio's mafia scene". In the past he had been alongside the boss Antonino Lo Nigro . After the arrest of the latter in the "Tentacles" blitz two years ago, Romano would have effectively taken Lo Nigro's place in the management of extortion, drug dealing and clandestine betting. And it is precisely in this last area that the clash that led to the crime took place.

According to the reconstruction of the investigators, Lo Nigro together with Caruso, who in the past was convicted of extortion and robbery, went to claim the percentage of the clandestine bets managed by the Mira. The first clash apparently took place in front of an agency in Corso dei Mille. Camillo Mira would have pulled out his gun to shoot at Caruso, who would have anticipated him, wounding him. Shortly afterwards he takes revenge with the Mira who go hunting for his adversaries. Another firefight ensues. The ones who get the worst of it are Romano, who remains lifeless on the asphalt, and Caruso who ends up in hospital. Camillo Mira is under investigation for murder, both for the attempted murder of Caruso who in turn is charged with attempted murder and extortion. All hypotheses aggravated by the mafia method.