Grandson, 3, shot in head as turf war exploded

THE charred body of a toddler strapped into his car seat brought home the horrific depths the Ndrangheta would stoop to.

Nicola “Coco” Campolongo, three, was killed with a bullet to the head.

He was murdered with his drugdealer grandad Giuseppe Iannicelli and his girlfriend in the town of Cassano allo Ionio.

Their Fiat Punto was then torched. Iannicelli was targeted after plying his trade on Ndrangheta turf. He took Coco on drug runs in a failed attempt to stave off reprisals. The case shocked Italy. It was a brutal attack even by the standards of the Calabria-based Ndrangheta – pronounced Un-drang-getta.

Its origins go back to the 19th century when middle men acted as militia and debt collectors.

From the 1950s it expanded to northern Italy and in the 1970s and 80s earned much of its income by kidnapping rich targets like John Paul Getty’s grandson, whose ear was cut off and sent to his family.

Since the 1990s the Ndrangheta has specialised in trafficking cocaine. Its reach spreads to the US, Germany, Canada, Australia and, it is feared, even the UK.

During the Covid pandemic it has offered cash loans to struggling businesses. Members have even been reported handing out cash to the jobless, all in a bid to tighten their grip on the streets of Calabria.

Torched or blown-up cars are a trademark mob attack. Prosecutor and judge Giovanni Falcone and his wife were killed in a car bombing by the Sicilian mafia in 1992.

MOB VICTIM Giovanni Falcone died in car bomb