A high-ranking Chinese organized crime boss and his accomplice were shot dead in Rome in what Italian officials suspect is a mafia execution linked to current rivalries between Chinese criminal syndicates active in Italy.
Zhang Dayong, 53, alias “Asheng,” was discovered to have been shot dead on Monday with his 38-year-old girlfriend, Gong Xiaoqing, outside their home in Pigneto, the eastern Roman district. Italian police are investigating the double murder as a probable spillover of a long-festering feud between Chinese gangs fighting to dominate black markets throughout Europe.
The investigators think Zhang was a close friend of Naizhong Zhang, who is now on trial in Florence on charges that he commanded a massive criminal organization directing illegal activities in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain. Prosecutors claim this organization monopolized distribution networks throughout Europe by employing threats and violence against other Chinese businesspeople.
Dayong was said to be operating in Rome’s crime underworld, being involved in clandestine gambling, loan sharking, and collection of debts on behalf of China’s underworld gangs. Anti-mafia prosecutors stated that his involvement put him right at the center of various illegal operations in Rome’s underworld.
Police indicate the murders might be connected to the so-called “Coat Hanger Wars” a violent spate of battles between Chinese gangs that started in Prato, a city located near Florence, which is famous for the Chinese community and its fashion and textile industries. The wars were fueled by intense competition over control of the logistics sector, especially shipping and delivering goods related to the fashion industry.
The double murder has raised suspicions among Italian officials regarding the growth and growing violence of Chinese organized crime within the European continent. The murder is currently under investigation by an official inquiry, which is being headed by Rome’s anti-mafia unit.
