Antonio Pelle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antonio Pelle (San Luca, March 1, 1932), also known as Ntoni Gambazza, is a historical and charismatic 'Ndrangheta boss from San Luca in Calabria. He is a fugitive since 2000 and included in the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy.
Ntoni Pelle is the patriarch of the San Luca locale and the 'Ndrangheta capo crimine, the titular head of the organisation, although with little effective power.[1] He is currently believed to be hiding somewhere on the Aspromonte mountains.[2]
During his criminal career he survived nine out of ten trials. In the early years his lawyer was Giovanni Leone before he became President of the Italian Republic in 1971.[3] He has to serve a 26 years sentence for cocaine trafficking and mafia association.[2]
The Pelle-Vottari-Romeo, is one of the protagonists in the San Luca feud against the Strangio-Nirta clan. The vendetta between two clans from San Luca reached the headlines of the world press when on August 15, 2007, six men belonging to the Pelle-Vottari-Romeo clan were shot dead in their cars in front of a pizzeria near the train station of Duisburg in western Germany.[4]
His son Salvatore Pelle wanted since 1991, was arrested on March 10, 2007.[3] During an operation in San Luca on March 4, 2008, the police discovered an underground bunker in one of the seized buildings which investigators believed was used as a hideout by Pelle.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ (Italian) Relazione annuale sulla 'ndrangheta, Commissione parlamentare di inchiesta sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata mafiosa o similare (Relatore: Francesco Forgione), February 2008
- ^ a b (Italian) La faida è affare di Pelle, L’Espresso, August 27, 2007
- ^ a b (Italian) Da latitante Salvatore Pelle si muoveva solo con bus e treni, Gazetta del Sud, March 11, 2007
- ^ A mafia family feud spills over, BBC News, August 16, 2007
- ^ (Italian) 'Ndrangheta, maxisequestro di beni alle famiglie della strage di Duisburg, La Repubblica, March 4, 2008
