Former Mafia Godfather shot dead on French highway 10 years after his brother mysteriously disappeared
A former local mafia boss was shot in the middle of a busy highway near the city of Grenoble, France, and sources close to the case told France News Agency France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France France News Agency (AFP)
The Civil Defense and District Attorney’s Office said Jean-Pierre Maldera, 71, died of wounds after a gunfight Wednesday morning.
Maldera was one of the so-called godfathers of the Italian Mafia, a case that terrorized the Southeastern city in the 1980s with his brother Robert.
Sources added that Robert Maldera, nicknamed “Il Pazzo” (the “madman” in Italian), disappeared in 2015 when she was 55 years old. He disappeared at a meeting in the suburbs of Grenoble, and two months later his car was found in a nearby parking lot, according to BBC News.
A prosecutor at the time said there was good reason to believe he had been killed.
Both brothers were sentenced to jail in 2004, but were released the following year for foiling technical flaws in the case.
According to another source after the investigation, Jean-Pierre Maldera was shot by another vehicle and drove down.
Olivier Chassignole/AFP via Getty Images
Video circulating online shows a white car parked in the middle of a highway and its driver’s window was broken.
Local newspaper Le Dauphin Libere reported that he rode three to four gunmen on a stolen vehicle while he was driving, and then shot him as he tried to escape from the car on foot. According to BBC News, the attackers allegedly used military-grade weapons, such as Kalashnikov rifles, to kill.
It said shortly afterwards, burning remains of their vehicles were found in a parking lot a few miles away.
After police removed the remaining things from the vehicle, the Australian and New Zealand photographer saw the parking lot turning black.
The so-called Maldera Clan to which Jean-Pierre and Robert belonged was demolished in 1984. At that time, their father was found to have about 1 million francs (about 165,000 US dollars) in fiscal bonds.
According to BBC News, a source investigating the Maldera Brothers told France 3 that Jean-Pierre was the brain they operated, while Robert was BRAWN.
