Mafia Queen Slain in Sicilian Break With ‘Honor Code’
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CATANIA, Sicily — The wife of a jailed Mafia boss was shot to death in her home in what police believe is the first Sicilian gangland assassination of a woman.
Lucia Alleruzzo, 55, was shot as she stepped onto her balcony for a breath of air Tuesday morning.
Police said today it appeared to be part of an attempt to wipe out the entire family of Mafia boss Giuseppe Alleruzzo. Last month his 19-year-old son was slain in a field near his home, while Alleruzzo himself narrowly escaped death when fellow prisoners set fire to his cell last year.
Police said the killings were part of a bloody gangland war over control of the illicit drug trade and extortion rackets in Catania.
The murder of Lucia Alleruzzo marks a departure from the Mafia “code of honor,” in which women and children are traditionally kept out of direct involvement in struggles between rival clans.
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