A 22-year-old man, Francesco Barone, was arrested Wednesday on charges of murdering his mother to 'punish' her for having an extra-marital affair with a boss from a rival clan of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, investigators suspect.
The woman, Francesca Bellocco, linked to the clan of the 'Ndrangheta of the same name, was allegedly killed by her son with the complicity of other mobsters after she took rival kingpin Domenica Cacciola as a lover, police said.
Cacciola, 50, disappeared at the time of the woman's alleged murder in August 2013 and Carabinieri police are trying to determine if he also was killed. The woman's body has not yet been found.
Barone also was charged with hiding his mother's body.
He is suspected of murdering his mother, "leading a hit squad of killers" for the affair "in obedience to the archaic rules of the 'Ndrangheta," Reggio Calabria police said in a statement.
Cacciola was a relative of Maria Concetta Cacciola, a woman who turned State's evidence against the Calabrian mafia who died in 2011 from acid poisoning in a vendetta slaying by the vicious crime gang.
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