Sicilian Mafia boss slain while riding his bike

Palermo (Italy), May 22 (IANS/AKI) Assassins shot dead top Sicilian mafia boss, Giuseppe Dainotti in Palermo on Monday as he rode his bicycle in the working-class Zisa district, police said.

Sixty-seven-year-old Dainotti was shot in the head by two gunmen, according to police.

Officers aboard a police prowler car and local residents raised the alarm after hearing gunfire, Adnkronos has learned.

Police cordoned off the area while investigators gathered evidence at the murder scene, where sniffer dogs were deployed.

The Sicilian mafia's Di Giacomo clan took out a hit on Dainotti after his release from jail in 2014 on the grounds that he "caused trouble".

A boss of the notorious Porta Nuova clan, Dainotti served 25 years in prison for murder and for a massive heist at Palermo's Monte dei Pegni institutional pawnbrokers in 1991.

Dainotto's slaying followed a warning last week by Palermo's police chief Renato Cortese that the release from jail of several Sicilian mafia bosses could strengthen the crime syndicate and lead to fresh violence.

--IANS/AKI

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