A building contractor in the Sicilian town of Altofonte discovered a severed horse head and a cow quartered with its bloodied dead calf on his property. The incident is being investigated as a possible mafia threat, CNN reported.

The grisly scene was found on the contractor’s land near Palermo, with the animals kept on an adjacent property. Police have confirmed the discovery, describing it as deeply unsettling and similar to the 1972 film The Godfather, in which a character wakes up to find a decapitated horse’s head in his bed.

The contractor, whose identity is being withheld for safety reasons, reported to authorities that he had not previously received any threats. He frequently carries out municipal construction work, but has not been approached by any groups demanding money or favours.

Police are treating the act as a mafia intimidation tactic. The gruesome discovery follows the recent release of 20 mafia members whose sentences expired, and whose potential for retaliation may be a factor, according to Maurizio de Lucia, the head of the Anti-Mafia Directorate.

Altofonte’s mayor, Angela De Lucia, called the incident “barbaric” and said it “seems to take us back to the Middle Ages,” as per CNN.

The use of dead animals as a form of intimidation has a long history in Sicily, where mafia groups like Cosa Nostra have used such tactics for decades. In 2023, similar incidents included a severed pig’s head being found at a local police station and a business contractor discovering a goat’s head on his garden gate.

Sicilian organised crime has deep roots, with Cosa Nostra’s violent history reaching its peak in 1992, when two anti-mafia judges were assassinated. In recent years, however, mafia groups have shifted their focus from violence to infiltrating legitimate businesses, such as construction and sanitation. Extortion and protection money, known as “pizzo,” continue to be common mafia activities.

London:

UK businessman Mike Lynch, who was recently acquitted in the United States of an $11 billion fraud, is among those missing Monday after a superyacht sank off southern Italy, according to the head of the Civil Protection Agency.

The 56-metre-long luxury yacht, The Bayesian, had been moored off Porticello, east of Palermo, when the storm swept suddenly up the coast before dawn, tearing through beach clubs and little fishing ports.

Lynch’s wife was among 15 people rescued after the luxury yacht sank amid violent winds and rains off the Sicily coast, according to Salvo Cocina of the Civil Protection Agency, leaving six others missing. 

Italian authorities have opened a probe into the incident as the emergency response continued Monday.

Lynch, 59, was acquitted on all charges in a San Francisco court in early June after he was accused of the massive fraud linked to the sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard. 

He co-founded Autonomy in Cambridge in 1996. 

US prosecutors accused Lynch of wire fraud and securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit offenses involving years of falsified records.

He had been extradited to the US from Britain to stand trial on the criminal charges.

A University of Cambridge graduate from Suffolk in eastern England, Lynch had disputed all charges and denied any wrongdoing. He was facing two decades in jail if convicted of the 17 charges.

A celebrated technology sector entrepreneur and investor, sometimes referred to as the UK’s answer to Bill Gates, he had won numerous awards and plaudits in Britain and beyond.

A spokesperson for Invoke Capital, another firm he founded, declined to comment.

Lynch was reportedly on board the boat with colleagues from the company when the storm struck.

Following his US acquittal, he had been critical of his prosecution in the US. 

He had told the BBC that the only reason he was free was “because I had enough money not to be swept away by a process that’s set up to sweep you away”.

“You shouldn’t need to have funds to protect yourself as a British citizen”, he said in the interview aired earlier this month.

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