Sicilian businessman receives horse’s head as Godfather-style mafia warning

The animal’s bloody head was left on the seat of a digger that belonged to the businessman

Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972) (Paramount Pictures)

A severed horse’s head was found on the property of a Sicilian businessman, an act that local authorities are attributing to a mafia intimidation practice.

The animal’s bloody head was left on the seat of a digger that belonged to the businessman, who is a construction contractor in Altofonte near Sicily’s regional capital Palermo. The body of a pregnant cow and its calf were also left on the site.

The grisly scene stirred up memories of one of the most famous scenes in the 1972 Francis Ford Coppola-directed film, The Godfather, starring Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone. In the film, a film producer wakes up with the severed head of his prized thoroughbred horse in his bed after he refuses Don Corleone’s request for his godson to be given a role.

The Sicilian contractor, who is known in the area and regularly takes up building work for local councils, reported the incident to the police and added that he had received threats earlier. The police believe that he may have become a target for allegedly refusing to pay protection money to the mafia or comply with their demands.

Altofonte mayor Angela De Luca offered “solidarity” to the businessman and said: “It stopped me in my tracks, I can’t explain such barbarity.”

“Our whole community is deeply shocked by an act which seems to take us back to mediaeval times. I have faith in the forces of law and order working to ascertain what happened and identify who is behind this dreadful act.”

Sicilian politician Edy Tamajo condemned the “vile” act and said: “This act of unheard-of cruelty represents a mafia mentality that must be eradicated.

“It is essential that the Carabinieri and the judiciary shed full light on this episode and bring those responsible to justice.”

The Sicilian mafia, also known as the Cosa Nostra, has for years had a strong base in Palermo.

Iano Monaco, president of the Order of Architects of the Province of Palermo, expressed “solidarity and support for the entrepreneur who was the victim of violent intimidation” in a statement.

In September last year, Matteo Messina Denaro, also known as the last “godfather”, died while receiving medical treatment for cancer after being arrested in January. He had been on the run since 1993 and was suffering from colon cancer at the time of his arrest. He is believed to have ordered dozens of Mafia-related murders for the Cosa Nostra.