In a typical Italian mafia intimidation practice, a horse’s copped off head was found on the property of a businessman in Sicily. The grim discovery, which resembles a scene straight out of a mafia blockbuster The Godfather was made in Altofonte, a village on the outskirts of Palermo. The animal’s head, completely soaked in blood, was left on the seat of a digger machine that belonged to the Italian businessman. The businessman is a construction contractor who works near Sicily’s regional capital, Palermo. The body of a pregnant cow and its calf were also left on the site.

Angela De Luca, the mayor of Altofonte, said her community had been deeply disturbed. “I was petrified; I can’t comprehend such barbarity,” she said. “This act seems to take us back to the Middle Ages, with its unacceptable methods.”

Marlon Brando played Don Vito Corleone in the iconic 1972 movie, which ends with a horse’s head in the bed of cruel film director Jack Woltz after Woltz denies Corleone’s godson a part.

According to The Guardian, the news sparked a row on the island, where more than 20 mafia bosses have been released from prison in recent months after serving their sentences. Delivering severed animal heads or dismembered animal bodies is among the most common intimidation tactics employed by the mafia in Sicily, predating The Godfather.

According to investigators, the tactic serves the dual purpose of terrorising its victims and striking at their most cherished bonds: animals to which they are often deeply attached. Last May, the head of a goat was found in front of the home of a construction entrepreneur in Palermo, and in 2023, a pig’s head was hung at the gate of a police station in the province of Messina.