Mafia makes pig’s ear – and head – of warning

An Italian priest who's managed to attract the anger of the mafia woke up to a nasty surprise this week. He found a Godfather-style severed pig's head on his doorstep.

The priest, Father Ennio Stamile, is a famous anti-mafia campaigner. The town in which he lives, Cetraro in Calabria, is a 'Ndrangheta mafia stronghold. Father Stamile is obviously campaigning effectivwely if he's getting that level of reaction.

Whether the 'Ndrangheta were just economising or simply couldn't afford a horse head is unknown. That aside, the lads really let the side down by failing to put the head in the priest's bed. Did they even see The Godfather?

The half-arsed attempt at scaring Father Stamile was about as gruesome as looking in a butcher shop window a few decades ago. The mafia had taken the time to stuff a wad of cloth into the pig's mouth which was meant to be a 'clear warning'... yeah, very clear.

"These are people who are warped by evil, but righteousness pays and pays many times over," the priest said on Monday. "I certainly won't stop what I'm doing, but I don't want to send a message that I'm trying to defy anyone. Calabria has no need for heroes, just people who want to do their duty," said a defiant Father Stamile.