The couple were biking home when gunmen on a motorcycle confronted them, according to local news sources. They reportedly fired at least six shots, striking the back of their heads, as additional reports indicate. Authorities revealed that Dayong was employed by Naizhong Zhang, a Chinese-Italian crime leader currently facing trial in Florence for allegedly orchestrating illegal activities throughout Italy, France, Germany, and Spain. Prosecutors fighting against organized crime disclosed that Zhang had established a near-monopoly on goods distribution across a large part of Europe by using intimidation and violence against Chinese business owners.
Prosecutors say Dayong ran the dark heart of Rome’s Chinese underworld — overseeing illegal gambling dens, brutal loan-sharking rings, and violent enforcement crews.
He was a key target in the 2018 “China Truck” crackdown — a sweeping anti-mafia sting by Florence investigators that exposed a vast Chinese trafficking network operating out of Prato, near Florence.
A senior police source suggested the double hit could be tied to the deadly “Coat Hanger Wars” — a vicious turf war that’s been spiraling out of control in recent years.
The conflict, rooted in Prato, has pitted rival Triad factions against each other in a bloody battle for control of Italy’s booming fashion logistics racket.
The couple’s assassination is believed to signal a deeper power struggle among Chinese crime syndicates.
Such operations have expanded beyond Prato, seeping into other European hubs like Madrid and Paris.
In recent years, Prato has seen a sharp increase in violent incidents linked to Chinese organized crime, including arson, armed assaults, and attempted murders. Police believe these events are not isolated, but part of an intensifying struggle between criminal groups seeking to dominate the region’s lucrative counterfeit and textile shipping networks.
Italian law enforcement has been tracking Chinese organized crime groups operating beyond Prato, noting expansion into other major European cities such as Madrid and Paris. These networks are thought to be highly coordinated, using legitimate business fronts to conceal activities that range from labor exploitation to drug trafficking.
While investigations into the Rome murders are ongoing, authorities say the level of planning suggests coordination at a high level. Surveillance footage from the area is being reviewed, and local witnesses have been questioned. No arrests have been made so far.
Pigneto is considered a ‘working-class’ neighborhood of Rome
At the same time, Italy’s domestic crime landscape is facing its own internal fractures. In Calabria, the discovery of Antonio Strangio’s burned body inside a torched vehicle in San Luca has reignited tensions within the ‘Ndrangheta, the powerful mafia syndicate based in the region. Strangio, 42, had been missing for over a week before remains found in the SUV were identified through dental records and personal effects.
Antonio was the son of Guiseppe Strangio, a former leader of a faction known as the Barbarians. Guiseppe has served time for murder and was implicated in a series of high-profile kidnappings in the 1970s and 1980s, including the abduction of Cesare Casella, who was held for two years until his family reportedly paid a massive ransom.
Police sources believe Antonio’s death could signal a new phase of instability within the ‘Ndrangheta. Investigators are considering whether his killing is part of a power realignment among the group’s more than 40 interrelated clans.
As authorities across Europe attempt to map out these overlapping criminal networks, the murder of Zhang Dayong and Gong Xiaoqing stands out not only for its precision but for what it may indicate — that international crime syndicates, once operating discreetly within national borders, are becoming more visible, more violent, and more interconnected.
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