This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Two senior members of the Canadian mafia have been murdered in Sicily and their bodies incinerated, victims of what police suspect is a vicious turf war in Canada which has spilled over into the Cosa Nostra's Italian heartland.

After an anonymous tip-off, the bodies of Juan Ramon Paz Fernandez and Fernando Pimentel were discovered near a rubbish dump in the countryside outside Palermo on Thursday. Police described the double killing as an "old-fashioned" gangland hit.

Spanish-born Fernandez, 57, a notoriously tough enforcer for Montreal's Rizzuto clan, was expelled from Canada last year for the third time after serving a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to murder a fellow mobster. He resurfaced in Palermo, where he was suspected of teaming up with the Cosa Nostra to build drug-trafficking links between Sicily and Canada.

Pimentel arrived in Palermo a few weeks ago to join Fernandez, who was allegedly working as a martial arts instructor as cover for his mob activities.

Nicknamed Joey Bravo in Canada, Fernandez was a feared right-hand man of Sicily-born Vito Rizzuto, who allied with New York's Bonanno family to build an unrivalled mafia empire in Canada in the 1980s, handling drugs, loan sharking, gambling and contract killing.

In the midst of a turf war allegedly pitting the clan with a breakaway faction, Rizzuto was jailed while rivals murdered his father and son, the latter buried in a gold coffin which was paraded through Montreal's Little Italy.

Fernandez stayed loyal to Rizzuto while he served his own time in jail in Canada, and was suspected by police of continuing to run operations through criminal associates. He was also suspected of being behind the murder of drug dealer Constantin "Big Gus" Alevizos in 2008.

Fernandez bolstered his tough reputation in 2011 when he was refused parole after threatening to kill a prison guard and boasting of his underworld connections.

Police suspicions that Fernandez's murder in Sicily was ordered by his enemies back in Canada were strengthened after they arrested Pietro and Salvatore Scadutoon suspicion of being part of the hit squad that fired 30 shots at Fernandez and Pimentel and incinerated their corpses.

The Scaduto brothers have strong ties with the Canadian underworld. Following the murder of their own father in a mafia turf war in Sicily, the brothers moved to Canada in 1989, where Pietro Scaduto allegedly worked for the Rizzuto clan before they both returned to Sicily.

The discovery of both victims followed a police round-up on Wednesday of 21 mobsters linked to the Bagheria clan, based on the outskirts of Palermo, that Fernandez was working with.

A warrant had also been issued for Fernandez, who had been believed to have fled the city before his corpse was found.

Assets worth €30m were seized in the raids, which police said showed that the Cosa Nostra was "returning in a significant way" to the South American drugs trade after losing ground to the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia, which has overtaken Sicily's Cosa Nostra to become Italy's most feared mafia.

As part of their operation, police are also investigating the mayor of a small Sicilian town who had stood for election with the Italian Northern League party, which has long railed against the mafia influence in southern Italy, for alleged mob ties.