‘I’m sick of appearing in the papers’: Police recordings reveal Aberdeen mob boss Antonio La Torre came under fire from his mother

A MAFIA clan gran urged her son to flee to Scotland to escape an Italian gang war, we can reveal.

Last week we exclusively told how the former Aberdeen restaurateur, dubbed the Don on the Don, was back behind bars in his native Italy.

Antonio La Torre, 61, – who ran two restaurants in Aberdeen in the 20-plus years he spent here leading a double life – now faces charges alongside his brother Augusto and nephew Tiberio.

The father-of-three is in jail over gun charges and plotting to threaten prosecutors with Augusto, 55.

We can reveal other details about the case against the crime family.

As well as death threats and gun charges, it involves claims Antonio – whose Scottish family have claimed he had nothing to do with crime – was involved in a bitter power struggle with a rival mafia faction.

Anti-mafia investigators – known as the Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia (DDA) – have released tapes following a court appearance by his nephew Tiberio, 30. He faces charges of attempted extortion and possession of weapons.

It is claimed the tapes catch Antonio and Tiberio discussing guns as well as preparing for Augusto’s release from jail.

In eerie similarities to hit mafia TV show Gomorra, the police tapes say the pair were caught up in a long-running feud with a faction from nearby town, called Sessa Aurunca.

The rival gang was based just 20 miles away from the La Torres base in the seaside town of Mondragone on the outskirts of Naples.

Taped recordings appear to show rivalries between the two factions got so bad that Antonio told his mum, Paolina Gravano, that he was going to “shoot the ones from Sessa”.

His elderly mum then says: “What are you going to do with this gun? Do you want to ruin yourself too? Go to Scotland. I’m sick of appearing in the papers. I know who the ones from Sessa are… do you want to teach them to me?”

She also warns her grandson Tiberio to be on his guard from gang reprisals saying, “when you go to the beach… don’t lie on your tummy.”

La Torre and three other men were arrested in a series of raids.

The four men are being investigated for the illegal possession of firearms, attempted robbery, attempted extortion and being involved in the Mafia.

Antonio has denied any involvement.

But at a Court of Review hearing, prosecutors argued he was an integral part of the crime family.

Various taped conversations will play an important part in the prosecutions.

Authorities will argue they show Augusto continued to issue orders from behind bars.

In one taped conversation released to the media, Augusto appears to tell Antonio he “kills people” and orders him to call a public prosecutor.

Authorities argue that this was a veiled threat.

Before his arrest in April, Tiberio gave an interview to a prominent Italian investigative TV programme where he said the mafia made him sick and distanced himself from his mafia don dad, Augusto.

Antonio La Torre was arrested in Scotland in 2005 on mafia charges and sent home to Italy where he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

It is claimed he used his Scottish businesses to launder mafia money from Naples. Despite the sentence he was released from jail in 2014.

He divorced his Scottish wife, Gillian Fraser, in 2008.

She refused to comment when contacted by the Sunday Post.

Guns, extortion and death threats… the new claims facing Aberdeen mafia boss arrested in Italy

Aberdeen-based Antonio was a key player in the Camorra crime clan and masterminded the gang washing their ill-gotten gains via a modest flat above a butcher’s shop.

Antonio moved to Aberdeen in 1986 and opened two restaurants there – Pavarotti’s and Sorrento.

At the time of the mafia probe a decade ago, Italian prosecutor, Raffaele Cantone, said: “Scotland was the perfect HQ for the clan.

“It was considered a safe, quiet place to run the organisation. Without leaving Scotland, La Torre was able to force businessmen to pay protection money.”

Antonio expanded his empire to include fitness clubs, catering firms, pubs and betting shops, all of which he used to launder money.

He bought land for a car park in Aberdeen city centre and converted a building into flats, making a six-figure profit.

He also set up phantom companies, securing bank loans to place orders then dissolving the companies so he could pocket both the cash and the goods.

Mr Cantone said: “It was lucrative – goods had not been paid for and could be sold off in Scotland at prices well below those of the competition.

“The clan’s activities in Scotland were varied, from the exporting of frozen fish to services connected to the world of oil refineries.”

The organisation began to crumble in 2004 when an Italian court jailed La Torre for 13 years in his absence for crimes including racketeering, extortion, robbery and the production of counterfeit money.

He went on the run and was snared hiding in a friend’s flat in Aberdeen in 2005 and sent back to Italy to serve his sentence.