The legendary film The Godfather will have forever immortalised the image of the mafia in the minds of people the world over.
And the scene of the horse head probably brings shivers down the spine of anyone who has seen it.
While on Italian shores the mafia exists in varying degrees of fantasy and reality compared to the film, a rather disturbing episode has just happened in the town of Ostuni, Salento.
A decapitated horse head and two rifle catridges have been left on the landing of the Vice-mayor’s office.
The macabre gesture has been aimed at Vincenzo Pomes, engineer by profession, but vice mayor and personnel officer at the council.
While it is unclear who the perpetrator is, the “mafia” around these parts called the Sacra Corona Unita or United Sacred Crown.
As if straight from a film, there was a whole dagger-in-the-dark scene to played out with an anonymous phone call to the Carabinieri who were invited to the vice-mayor’s office as a “small gift” had been left for him.