Murder of Donatella Mazzanti

Mazzanti’s car, she would be dragged from her car by a Sacra Corona Unita member (Giancarlo Oscuro) for 2 miles and then she was brutally raped and murdered

### Target

Donatella Mazzanti (son of Raimondo Abbondanzieri)

### Weapon

Baseball BatBeretta 96

Stiletto Knife

### Motive

Ordered by a Government Official (Sacra Corona Unita claim)Ordered by Sacra Corona Unita (Investigatore De Lorenzo’s case)

Unclear (Officially recognised by Polizia di Stato)

Ongoing (Carabinieri and EPPO)

### Charges

15 years imprisonment (Giancarlo Oscuro)5 years suspended sentence (Graziano Vespasiano)

Donatella Mazzanti, a 34-year-old Italian woman was raped and murdered near the village of Masseria Liuni. Due to the victim’s last known location in Lecce and where the Sacra Corona Unita is based, it’s also referred as the **Lecce Murder,** The murder was carried out by Sacra Corona Unita member Giancarlo Oscuro and planned by his fellow member, Graziano Vespasiano who both turned themselves in the next mourning after the murder was carried out.

The murder took place on 21st June, Donatella was visiting the town of Lecce to check on her mother, Fiorenza Mazzanti who was hospitalised from two days ago after suffering a fall outside of her home in Lecce, leaving the hospital at night to head home, Donatella was stopped by Giancarlo, with the use of force at gunpoint, he forced himself to take control of her car, and drove 6km from the other direction towards Frigole, his current residence. Donatella struggled to take control of the wheel and as a result. Her car crashed near the village of Masseria Liuni, it was then when the perpetrator shot both of her ankles and proceeded to drag her from her car to the farmfields. It was there when she died due to repeated blows to the head from the baseball bat Giancarlo brought with him. He fled the scene quickly when Grizano tailed behind them and collected Giancarlo, leaving all of the murder weapons at the scene.

This event in particular was socially damaging towards Italian junior driver and son of Donatella Mazzanti; Raimondo Abbondanzieri, however the murder case is infamous for the lack of progress made towards the solving of the case. A few weeks after the murder, Sacra Corona Unita admitted from a flyer that they were responsible however they stated that their motive towards the killing of the woman was due to a undisclosed political figure had approached the group in order to kill the individual. However a few months later, Private Investigator Giacomo De Lorenzo reported his foundings to the police that the SCU’s actions were self-motivated instead and suspected they lied regarding their flyer admission. The Polizia continuously put their investigation on hold regarding threats from the SCU, government official influence to focus elsewhere and the father of Raimondo Abbondanzieri; Silvano Abbondanzieri personally ordered the police to no longer continue the investigation. The court ordered a very rushed sentence for the two responsible which deemed highly inadequate by the general public for the high profile the murders have caused to the Italian public. The Carabinieri’s investigation towards the motives are still ongoing, they’ve recently announced that their foundings can be traced back to a highly influential figure in Italy and are currently shortlisting suspects. Their findings have received praise from the west but some are still critical for it’s still slow process of finding the one responsible. The European Union has placed pressure on the Italian justice system to allow for justified prison sentences to alas no response, so in EU’s action, their EPPO unit is assisting the investigation. The investigation has already seen multiple arrests regarding key members of Lecce’s organised crime and has seen crime dropped in great progress in the South-West of Italy