Chinese husband and wife executed with gunshots as gang war erupts (2025)

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A Chinese husband and wife have been killed in a mafia-style execution in Rome.

Zhang Dayong, 53, dubbed 'Asheng,' was found dead alongside his partner Gong Xiaoqing, 38, outside their home in an eastern Roman neighbourhood, according to Italian police.

The killing comes as Triad gang warfare erupted in the capital after spilling over from the Tuscan city of Prato.

At least six gunshots were fired late on Monday evening near the Pigneto district of Rome, police said.

The pair were returning home when the killers approached on a motorcycle and opened fire just a few metersfrom the building where they lived.

The couple both died from gunshot wounds to the backs of their heads.

Prosecutors said the double homicide could be a 'revenge killing' and may be linked to the so-called 'Coat Hanger Wars' which has escalated in recent years.

The wars represent a violent struggle between Chinese criminal factions originally centered in Prato for the lucrative fashion logistics market.

Prato alone has seen the rate of violent incidents soar, including assaults, arson attacks and attempted murders.

Such criminal activity has now spread beyond the Tuscan city and has infiltrated other parts of Europe, like Madrid and Paris.

According to investigators Dayong, nicknamed Asheng, worked for Naizhong Zhang - a Chinese-Italian boss on trial in Florence following accusations he coordinated illegal operations across Italy, France, Germany and Spain.

Zhang had accumulated a near-monopoly in distribution of goods across much of Europe through threats and violence against Chinese company owners, anti-mafia prosecutors revealed.

Dayong was involved in managing underground gambling, loan-sharking and enforcement operations in the capital, according to prosecutors.

He was seen as a central figure in a 2018 investigation dubbed 'China Truck' - an anti-mafia operation led by Florence prosecutors that unveiled the activities of Chinese trafficking gangs in Prato, close to Florence.

It comes after earlier this month MailOnline revealed how Chinese triad gangs operate in many of Britain's Chinatowns - while also exerting control much further afield.

One experienced detective described them as 'by far the most sophisticated and organised criminal gangs' in Britain, with operations spanning the entire country.

The detective claimed that all the UK's urban police forces have 'huge issues' with triad activity, namechecking London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool in particular.

'They have a huge influence and use fear and violence to extort, tax and control,' he warned.

David McKelvey, who spent nearly 30 years with the Met, said there was an urgent need for police to recognise the threat they pose and clamp down on their activities.

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