Italian police yesterday revealed an enormous collection of animals confiscated in recent months from jailed or arrested mafia bosses.
The haul included crocodiles, boa constrictors and an African grey parrot that had been trained by its drug-dealing owner to say: "Adesso ti sparo" or "now I will shoot you". When drug addicts rang the mobster to place an order, the bird would squawk down the line: "How much do you need?"
Police who raided the home of a mafia boss near the town of Caserta, a stronghold of the Camorra near Naples, found a crocodile kept on the terrace of the house. It was used to "persuade" local businessmen and shop owners to pay "pizzo" - slang for protection money.
"Instead of bullets, the Camorra are using these animals," Marco Trapuzzano, an officer with Italy's environmental police, told Corriere della Sera newspaper. "When business owners refused to pay, they would be brought to the house and told, 'Either you pay, or you'll become the crocodile's next meal'."
A clan of Camorra drug-dealers used a large white python to protect its supplies of cocaine.
