
How the Mafia's Cattle Are Terrorizing Italian Villages
In Cittanova, a town in Calabria, hundreds of feral cattle roam the countryside, wrecking cars, trampling fences, and destroying crops. The film traces the herds back to the 'Ndrangheta's cattle-branding feuds, showing how animals once used as mafia status symbols have multiplied into a rural menace nobody in power seems willing to control. Councilor Giuseppe "Peppe" Morabito drives the back roads documenting herd movements and damage after his own daughter was hurt in a collision with a bull; he founded the "No Bull" citizens' group to push the state into action, at real personal risk, since the cattle also function as a mafia warning sign. Farmer Bruno Bonfà describes years of crop destruction he believes is retaliation, tied to his public campaign to identify his father's killers. Interviews with residents, footage of the free-roaming herds on rural roads, and scenes of ruined fields build a picture of a place where silence is the safer choice and livestock has become an instrument of intimidation.