France, Jan. 13 -- Orsoni, 71, was shot while he was attending his mother's funeral in the cemetery of Vero, in his family village located about thirty kilometers from Ajaccio, according to the city's prosecutor.

"He was ​hit right in the heart by a single bullet from a long-range shot, " prosecutor Nicolas ​Septe said. Local police confirmed the assassination.

The newly established National Prosecutor's Office for Anti-Organised Crime (Pnaco), whose magistrate is expected on site Tuesday, quickly announced it would take up the case "particularly in light of the victim's status and his ties to the Corsican underworld."

It will conduct the investigation jointly with the Interregional Specialised Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Marsei...