Italian arrested over mafia killing caught on camera

The murder took place in May but police released the shocking footage three weeks ago in an attempt to persuade previously reluctant witnesses to come forward.

The tactic appeared to have reaped rewards on Thursday, when officers in the town of Castelvolturno, north of Naples, arrested Costanzo Apice, 27, saying they believed that he had carried out the brazen killing, which happened in broad daylight in a busy street.

They were acting on information from a witness who came forward after the release of the closed circuit television footage caused outrage in Italy and shock even in Naples, a city which is largely inured to the frequent violence which breaks out between feuding mafia gangsters.

The footage, which made headlines around the world, showed a hitman calmly walk into a bar, scout around for a few seconds before exiting and using a pistol to pump three bullets into the head of Mariano Bacio Terracino, 53.

Terracino was believed to have been connected to a mafia clan involved in a drug trafficking turf war.

As the victim slumped to the ground, the assassin then finished him off with a bullet to the head and calmly walked away.

The hitman was wearing a baseball cap but the angle of the surveillance cameras meant that his face was clearly visible.

Despite that, police drew a blank in their initial investigations, with potential witnesses apparently too frightened to give any information.

Some bystanders appeared indifferent – at least one passerby nonchalantly stepped over the prone body of Terracino as blood seeped from his gunshot wounds.

Naples, Italy’s third biggest city, is home to the feared Camorra crime syndicate, a rival to the better known Cosa Nostra mafia of Sicily, and many locals have become resigned to violence on the streets.

Source: telegraph.uk

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