A video showing an illegal horse race in Sicily, with spectators firing pistols into the air and brandishing Kalashnikov rifles, has prompted a police investigation that has led to the seizure of the animals.

The clip, reportedly filmed last Friday, shows two jockeys driving horse-drawn carts at breakneck speed along country roads in the town of Palagonia, near Catania, in eastern Sicily. Behind them, dozens of people follow on scooters, firing shots into the air. The footage was posted on social media by an animal rights activist named Enrico Rizzi.

Police said: “Following reports of an unauthorised horse race, accompanied by dozens of people filming the event and firing gunshots into the air, police carried out investigations in the San Cristoforo district of Catania, which led to two men aged 40 and 45 being reported to prosecutors.

“Officers immediately began intensive inspections of several stables in the San Cristoforo district, together with veterinarians from the regional health department, in order to identify the horses used in the race and place them in safety.”

The newspaper La Sicilia reported that the horses had been seized and the stables shut down. Several people were taken to the police station for questioning and the investigation is continuing.

Illegal horse racing remains widespread in Sicily, as well as in Calabria and Campania. Past investigations have shown that such races are often organised by mafia families linked to Cosa Nostra, the Camorra and the ’Ndrangheta.

The races generate large sums of undeclared cash, with bets often reaching thousands of euros for a single event. The cities where the phenomenon is most entrenched include Catania, Messina and Palermo, where repeated police raids over the years have led to arrests, prosecutions and the seizure of illegal stables.

The Italian animal welfare organisation LAV wrote in its annual report last year: “Illegal horse races, in addition to being a source of illicit profits linked to gambling, represent one of the most striking displays of criminal prestige and mafia control over the territory.

“They allow criminal groups to demonstrate their complete domination of the area by occupying and blocking public roads and deploying men and vehicles. The horses are subjected to whipping, kept in unsanitary conditions and administered banned drugs. Many come from the regulated racing industry and are fraudulently reused in street races.”

According to LAV, seven illegal horse races were stopped in 2024, leading to 70 people being reported and the seizure of 29 horses and a pony. Between 1998 and 2024, a total of 4,324 people were reported, 1,430 horses seized and 165 clandestine races disrupted.

The horses are often given names inspired by notorious figures, ranging from mafia bosses such as Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, who was known as “Binnu u Tratturi”, to the mob turncoat Carmine Schiavone and even Osama bin Laden.

Neapolitan-style ballads (neomelodica music) celebrating the competing horses are widely circulated and frequently serve as the soundtrack to videos of the races posted on social media.