Mafia boss linked to killings of six Ghanaians takes comfort in Pope’s writings
A mafia boss linked to the killings of six Ghanaians in Italy in September 2008, escapes arrest and seeks comfort in Pope’s writings, according to Italian press and media reports reaching ghanabusinessnews.com.
38-year-old Giussepe Setola reportedly escaped arrest when he fled through sewage pipes laid under his hideout and took comfort in the writings of the Late Pope John Paul II, while in hiding, the reports said Tuesday January 13, 2009.
The reports quoting police sources said, the publication, “Rise! Let Us Be on Our Way,” an autobiography of the Pope was found in Setola’s hideout near Southern Naples.
The police had raided his hideout to arrest him in connection with the killing of the six Ghanaians. The killings were blamed on the Camorra’s powerful Casalesi clan.
Surveillance cameras at the entrance to the hideout alerted Setola to the arrival of the police, who arrested his wife and seized computers, electronics material and the cameras, according to media reports.
Setola also left behind a book, “The Gold of the Camorra,” which was written about the Naples-area mafia by investigative journalist Rosaria Capacchione detailing the crime syndicate’s financial operations.
Capacchione has been under police protection since the book came out in 2008.
Setola is on Italy’s list of fugitives considered most dangerous.
The Casalesi clan controls drug trafficking and prostitution in the Caserta area of Naples. It has been blamed for dozens of deaths over the past three decades.
It will be recalled that on Thursday September 18, 2008, news reached Ghana that six Ghanaian immigrants were shot dead while they were in a tailoring shop in Napoli.
The reports said gunmen wearing police uniform arrived at the shop in the evening round 9:00pm and began shooting anything in sight. Initial reports after the incident said only three of the victims were Ghanaians, but eye witnesses said all six were indeed Ghanaians.
The remains of the six were flown into the country Tuesday December 23, 2008 and handed over to their families after proper identification for burial.
The murdered Ghanaians were Kwadwo Owusu Wiafe, Karim Yakubu (alias Awanfa), Kwame Antwi Julius Francis, all of Nkoranza and Ibrahim Muslim (alias Alhaji), Justice Sonny Abu, and Eric Affum Yeboah (alias Tailor) all of Kumasi.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi