A suspected Chinese Triad member and his girlfriend have been killed in Rome, marking what investigators said they believed was the first professional hit on Chinese mafia members in the Italian capital.
The deadly shooting appeared to be part of an escalating turf war between rival Chinese criminal organisations fighting for control of Europe’s lucrative counterfeit fashion industry, authorities said.
Zhang Dayong, 53, known as “Asheng”, and his partner Gong Xiaoqing, 38, were gunned down outside their apartment in Rome’s Pigneto district.
The couple was returning home on bicycles when unknown gunmen approached on a motorcycle and fired at least six shots from a 9mm weapon, striking them in the backs of their heads and chests, before fleeing on foot.
The execution-style killing was believed to be connected to what Italian authorities called the “Coat Hanger Wars” – a violent ongoing struggle between Chinese criminal factions for control of the fashion logistics market.
This deadly feud originated in the textile hub of Prato near Florence but has now spread across multiple European countries, officials said.
Investigators revealed that Dayong worked for Zhang Naizhong, an alleged Chinese-Italian crime boss currently on trial in Florence.
Naizhong stood accused of allegedly co-ordinating illegal operations spanning Italy, France, Germany and Spain, building a near-monopoly in goods distribution through threats and violence against Chinese business owners.
Dayong was a central figure in a 2018 anti-mafia investigation dubbed “China Truck”, which uncovered Chinese trafficking networks in Prato. According to prosecutors, he allegedly served as a debt collector and enforcer, managing underground gambling, loan-sharking and enforcement operations in Rome.
Prato, home to at least 20,000 Chinese residents, has become the epicentre of Europe’s counterfeit designer goods trade.
The town produces billions of euros worth of fast-fashion clothing and fake luxury items, including counterfeit Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton products. Chinese workers often labour in squalid conditions in sweatshops with minimal oversight.
Italian police have struggled to penetrate this shadowy world due to lookouts monitoring strangers, language barriers and the absence of informants. That was unlike traditional Italian mafia organisations where informers had sometimes co-operated with authorities in exchange for leniency in sentencing.
Police say the latest killings may have signalled a shift in loyalties among the “cartels” controlling the garments trade.
The shooting suggested a dramatic escalation in violence as long-established criminal power structures were suspected of being challenged, they said.
Recent months have seen a spike in violence, assaults, attempted murders and arson attacks targeting companies not just in Tuscany but also in Madrid and Paris.
Prosecutor Luca Tescaroli noted that Chinese Triad groups “maintain links with traditional mafia organisations” such as the ‘Ndrangheta of Calabria, the Cosa Nostra in Sicily and Albanian gangs, creating a complex criminal ecosystem that spanned multiple countries.
