Jailed Italian mafia mobster holds prison guard at gunpoint before shooting at rival inmates using weapon delivered by DRONE
- The 28-year-old prisoner has links to the Neapolitan mafia, a prison official said
- He had permission to leave his cell to shower but pulled a gun on a guard
- He demanded guard hand over his keys but was unable to open enemies’ cells
- Instead, he shot through the cell door at the men, who were uninjured
- Man then used illegal phone to call his lawyer who told him to hand over weapon
- Latest incident to raise concerns about Italy’s cramped prison system
A jailed Italian mafioso has held a prison guard at gunpoint and shot at fellow inmates with a weapon believed to have been smuggled in by drone.
The 28-year-old, who has links to the Neapolitan mafia, fired three shots on Sunday at prisoners he had argued with, Donato Capece, head of the Sappe prison union, told AFP news agency.
Capece said the prisoners who were fired at were uninjured.
The man, who has not been named, received permission to leave his cell to have a shower, but once the door was closed, he pulled out the gun and pointed it at a guard, forcing him to hand over his keys to the other cells, Capece said.
Unable to open the cells of his enemies, the inmate shot at them through the bars instead.
The incident is just the latest in a series which have raised concerns over the poor management of Italy’s cramped prisons [File photo]
The man then used an illegal mobile phone to call his lawyer, who advised him to turn his weapon over to the authorities in the high-security prison, some 62 miles south-east of the capital, Rome.
‘We assume that the weapon arrived by drone,’ Capece said, without elaborating.
The incident was just the latest in a series which have raised concerns over the poor management of Italy’s cramped prisons.
The country has the most crowded jails in the European Union, with 120 prisoners per 100 places, compared with 115 in France and 70.8 in Spain, according to the Council of Europe’s 2020 report.
Italy’s jails came under intense scrutiny in June, when footage emerged of guards at one institute beating inmates with truncheons as apparent payback for protests during the first coronavirus lockdown.
The Uipla prison guard union called on the government to set up a crisis unit following the shooting incident, saying the prison system was ‘out of control’.
‘We assume that the weapon arrived by drone,’ Donato Capece, head of the Sappe prison union, said [Stock image]
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