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A transgender mafia boss was brutally tortured and then murdered after going missing for three days.

Giovanna Arrivoli, 41, was born a woman but underwent gender reassignment to become a man.

He was killed in Melito di Napoli, near Naples in southern Italy's Campania region.

Police said Arrivoli had been forced to kneel and had then been shot three times, twice in the head, in an execution-style killing.

His body was found half buried in a ditch in remote countryside.

Local media reported that it appeared that he had been tortured before he was killed.

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Police had been looking for him since his fiancée reported him missing three days earlier.

Arrivoli was the owner of a local café bar, named Blue Moon, which is rumoured to be a stronghold of the local Pagato Amato mafia crime family.

Local media report that it was where the family drew up their plans and decided who would live and who would die.

(Image: CEN)

Arrivoli was reportedly a high-ranking boss within the family and police have interviewed other members about his death.

Local media reports a wide range of speculation over the reason for his death, ranging from an unpaid drug debt to an attack by a rival clan.

(Image: CEN)

Arrivoli was unusual in the macho world of the mafia in that he was born female but was accepted as a man. He said he had always felt male.

He had surgery to have his breasts removed and dressed and acted as a man.

Arrivoli, who was released from a jail term for drug dealing in 2012, was planning to marry his girlfriend.