Italy: Boar hunting accident triggers deadly shoot-out in Italy

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/boar-hunting-accident-triggers-deadly-shoot-out-in-italy/ar-AA1WxfpL

02/17/2025

When they found the three bodies lying in the woodlands in the Nebrodi Mountains, police were baffled.

As an area of eastern Sicily long associated with mafia activities, there was speculation the deaths were the result of a feud involving Cosa Nostra.

But when it emerged that the three victims were all wild-boar hunters with no criminal record, the line of inquiry took a very different turn.

Investigators now believe the three men died as a result of an unusual chain of events that was precipitated by Antonio Gatani, 82, one of the hunters.

It is believed that as the group was searching the mist-shrouded woods for wild boar near the village of Montagnareale, Mr Gatani heard a sound or saw a movement in the undergrowth. Thinking it was a boar, he shouldered his rifle and opened fire.

But it was no boar. Instead, the bullets hit a hunter named Giuseppe Pino, 44, killing him outright, and wounding his brother, Devis Pino, 25.
Reacting with shock and anger, Devis Pino is thought to have turned on Mr Gatani and shot him dead in retaliation.

A fourth hunter, a 48-year-old identified so far only by his initials AS, was a close friend of Mr Gatani.

He also reacted by allegedly shooting dead the wounded Devis Pino.

He then fled the scene in panic and was not arrested until several days later.

He is the only survivor of an incident that the Italian press is likening to a Hollywood film. He has been interviewed by police but has reportedly refused to answer their questions.

The bullets hit Giuseppe Pino, 44, (R) killing him outright, and wounded his brother, Devis Pino, 25
The bullets hit Giuseppe Pino, 44, (R) killing him outright, and wounded his brother, Devis Pino, 25
“We hope that during the next questioning, he will decide to respond to our questions and will provide us with a reconstruction of what happened,” said Angelo Cavallo, the prosecutor investigating the case.

Detectives are also studying the hunters’ weapons and the trajectories of the bullets that were fired.

The truth of exactly what happened may lie with a webcam that was attached to the rifle owned by Devis Pino. It is not clear yet what the device may have recorded. At dawn on the morning of Jan 28, when the shootings happened, there was dense mist and faint light.

Petrol-soaked rags
Although the triple killing appears not to have a link to organised crime, the Nebrodi Mountains have long been a focus of mafia activities.

Local mafiosi have been accused of tying petrol-soaked rags to the tails of cats, setting the rags alight, and then releasing the terrified animals into woodland.

The rags set off forest fires, the cats die, and the mafia allegedly cash in by investing in reforestation ventures and replacing the burned down trees.

Giuseppe Antoci, the former director of the Nebrodi regional park, where the cruel practice was first revealed, said: “As its tail burns, the cat flees in terror into the undergrowth in the woods, setting fire to everything it touches. That makes it harder for investigators to figure out where the fire was started and since the cat is eventually incinerated, they never find what caused the fire.”

Mr Antoci narrowly escaped with his life in 2016 when assailants, believed to be local mobsters, ambushed his car at night and sprayed it with bullets from automatic weapons. His police escort fought back and the assassination attempt was foiled.

He claimed that Cosa Nostra earned around €3bn (£2.6bn) in a decade by siphoning off EU funds that were intended for the Nebrodi national park.