In the state court of Palermo, a trial against an alleged 32-year-old Nigerian gangster, Austin Ewosa, is under way.

 

Known in the trade as John Bull, Ewosa was arrested in September 2014, in a local bar in Ballarò, and charged with assault, intimidation, criminal association and attempted murder.

 

According to the prosecution, Ewosa is the head of the feared Nigerian clan Black Axe, which was described as“a criminal organisation born as a sort of student fraternity in the 1970s at the University of Benin”.

 

On the night of 27 January 2014, Ewosa and his thugs allegedly dragged a 27-year-old man called Don Emeka down Via del Bosco, not far from Piazza Ballarò, where they brutally disfigured him with axe and machete blows.

 

Emeka was allegedly one of dozens of Ewosa’s victims and was punished for not having submitted to his power. Another Nigerian, simply identified as Emmanuel (pictured above), was macheted by the Black Axe in a related situation.