A Turkish man arrested in Italy last year after police found him and another Turkish national with automatic weapons, both of whom allegedly came to the central city of Viterbo to assassinate the leader of an İstanbul gang, has died by suicide in prison, Italian media reported.
Abdullah Atik, 25, was found dead in his cell on Thursday at the Nicandro Izzo Prison in Viterbo, north of Rome, according to La Repubblica and Rai News. Italian reports said he died by hanging. Prison authorities did not immediately release details on the circumstances.
Atik had been held since September 3, 2025, when police arrested him along with Barış Kaya, 22, in a bed and breakfast in Viterbo. Italian reports said officers found a submachine gun and automatic pistols. The arrests came hours before the city’s annual Macchina di Santa Rosa celebration, which draws large crowds.
The festival centers on a nighttime procession in which teams of about 100 carriers shoulder a towering structure through the city’s medieval streets to honor Saint Rose of Viterbo, a Catholic figure revered as the city’s patron saint. The event has long been treated as a major public order operation because of the crowd size and the narrow route.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, praised police at the time of the arrests, saying the intervention allowed the celebration to go ahead safely. Italian media said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was in Viterbo for the festival, adding to security concerns. Police in Viterbo did not publicly confirm a motive at the time.
Early speculation in Italian media raised the possibility of an attack on the festival crowd, but investigators later ruled out terrorism as a working theory. The investigators instead focused on the possibility that the weapons were connected to a dispute involving Turkish organized crime groups operating in Europe.
Italian investigators examined whether Atik and Kaya had traveled to Viterbo to target a rival gang figure, İsmail Atız, who goes by the name Hamuş and was arrested in Viterbo in late August 2025. Atik and Kaya are reportedly linked to the İstanbul-based youth gang Daltonlar, while Atız is widely regarded as the leader of the rival Casperlar group.
The Viterbo case drew attention because it came amid broader European law enforcement efforts against Turkish crime networks. The Turkish authorities and European police have stepped up cooperation in recent months, including the arrest of alleged Turkish crime boss Barış Boyun, also in the Viterbo area, in May 2024 during a joint operation involving Italian law enforcement and INTERPOL.
Turkey’s youth crime problem has attracted attention in recent months. Turkish authorities say gangs in Turkey recruit minors, particularly in poor neighborhoods, by offering money and a sense of belonging. Numerous minors as suspects in organized crime investigations involving groups like the Daltonlar and Casperlar.