Alex Trelinski
THE Guardia Civil are investigating whether two killings in the same area of the Murcia region on Tuesday were linked to the Italian mafia.
The murders were committed in Lorca with Giulian Velo, 67, shot dead outside his home in the remote hilly El Cantal district by a group of hooded men.
He lived in the isolated property with his elderly mother.
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Velo was an alleged mafia member and drug trafficker who moved to Spain over 30 years ago.
He had previously been charged but acquitted of murder in the region at Aguilas and further south in Malaga.
The other victim was found hours later and a few kilometres away in the boot of a car in the Ramonete coastal area of Lorca.
He had been handcuffed with the Guardia Civil trying to identify the man and whether he had links to Velo.
No arrests have been made so far.
Giulian Velo was on bail after spending a year in custody after being accused of leading a gang that supplied boats to transport hashish.
He had been released in the summer of 2024.
Velo has long been suspected of having links to the ‘Mala de Brenta’ mafia crew and was an alleged leader of one of the organisation’s branches.
In 1999, he was investigated in Malaga for his possible involvement in a double murder but was cleared due to a lack of evidence.
Years later in the Guadalentin area of Murcia, he was arrested after a 2,600 kilo stash of marijuana plants was seized by police.
Velo was sentenced to eight years behind bars, but after six years he took advantage of prison leave to escape from Spain.
His departure happened to coincide with the murder in Aguilas of an Italian man, Giuseppe Nirta.
He was suspected of being involved in the killing and was arrested in Albania and extradited to Spain.
Velo was subsequently acquitted of Nirta’s murder.
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