Domenico Rancadore - picture of Italian Mafia leader fighting UK extradition

Domenico Rancadore, a 'most wanted', convicted Mafia boss who has been trying to cover his face to stop photographers taking pictures of him. Sad, perhaps, his life is turning into a witch hunt, though it has been said those who have lived by the sword, shall die by it.

So here's an extra large photo of a man linked to murder, bribery, extortion, money laundering, etc, generally linked to evil, killing, bullying etc. If you see him near you, suggest you head off in another direction.

According to the Press, he was convicted in 1999 of being a 'prominent representative' and a former 'man of honour' in the Sicilian Mafia - aka Cosa Nostra - for collecting bribes from construction workers / builders in Trabia near Palermo.

Courts have been told Rancadore has been a leader in a gang that 'spread terror' on Sicily, 'systematically murdering anybody who did not comply with the will of the members of the organisation'.

It is reported Rancadore is now suffering chest pains. If he was in the Mafia, these will presumably have been caused by decisions he took earlier in his life - or caused by others who forced / coerced him to join?

He seems to be operating at present in the spirit of omertà... (literally, 'code of silence'). Within Mafia culture, breaking omertà is punishable by death. Mmm, lovely club rules.

Domenico Rancadore - alleged Mafia mobster fighting (again) extradition from England.

Death by sharp deadly weapons: a kind of Easter message...

STRIP away religious blurb and what do you see here? Three men being killed... executed... capital punishment by a violent ruling force.

The one in the middle was in a gang of about a dozen young men. He was more of a peacemaker than a fighter, more innocent than guilty - but the political leaders in his country went after him in a vicious, concerted way.

Look closely...

One of his gang struck out with a blade when they came to arrest his friend, slicing off the officer's ear. Apparently, the peacemaker healed the officer's ear and ordered his fellow gang member not to fight.

And then they whipped, scourged this man... nailed him to that gibbett you see there, a cross, a crucifix - driving huge nails into his hands and feet, severing tendons and soft tissues, perhaps breaking bones.

To make sure he was dead after several hours hanging there, an officer took a spear, another type of blade, and brutally used it to stab him, plunging the bladed weapon deep into his side. And he was dead - killed and drained of blood by all manner of sharp weapons.

And vicious, organised gangsters, criminals and other idiots are still using knives and other blades to kill others today. Sometimes you wonder what progress has there been - and when (or rather how) will they learn that being violent makes you a loser - nothing gets better picking up a knife to use against another human being.

Murder rates across the world, country by country

A pioneering international crime study has been published revealing data about murders in countries across the world - and alarmingly, economic downturns have been shown to increase murder rates, with figures tending to lag behind the economy as it recovers (or worsens...  so more murders in the UK and USA maybe on their way!)


Crime statistics are usually difficult to compare across borders - but murders tend to always be reported so the figures in the study can be considered accurate.


Compiled by UNODC (the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), the report reveals there were c.468,000 homicidal deaths on planet Earth last year.


More than a third of murders (36%) were in Africa and just under a third were on the American contintents (31%); in these global regions, the murder rate was 15-16 killings per 100k people, more than double the average of 6.9 killings per 100k for the rest of the world.

Illustrative map of murder rates on planet Earth

Murders in most countries have reduced in number since 1995, but in the Caribbean and Central America, murder numbers have increased.


Interestingly, the UK is a developed nation and can be considered relatively safer than others, enjoying one of the lowest murder rates for individual countries. I can't help speculating how our anti-gun culture helps here, especially when one considers US murder rates are tending to be double the UK's.


Two trends seem to be apparent:


1. A link exists between development and crime. Countries with low scores on the UN Development Programme’s human-development index reveal high murder rates and vice versa.


2. Exceptions to the above show another trend. Organised crime, drug trafficking, violent gang culture and the prevalence of firearms are also correlated with higher murder rates, even in relatively developed countries.


This distressing phenomenon just noted above is proven in Honduras and El Salvador. It would be wise probably not to travel to this pair of countries; they suffer the highest and second-highest global murder rates (82 killings per 100k and 66 killings per 100k resp.).


To download more detail on this report, visit the 'Homicides Study' on the website of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.