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Triple crime

SOLVED2008General Rodríguez, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina2 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

On 7 August 2008, pharmaceutical businessmen Sebastián Forza, Damián Ferrón, and Leopoldo Bina were reported missing after a meeting in Sarandí, Buenos Aires Province. On 13 August 2008, their bodies were found in General Rodríguez; the three had been shot and killed, and the killings were later prosecuted and convicted as aggravated homicides. The case became known in Argentina as the "triple crime" (triple crimen).

The investigation tied the victims to the illegal ephedrine trade. Forza and Ferrón were found to have operated a laboratory producing illegal drugs, and a month after the killings Argentina restricted ephedrine imports. It also emerged that Forza had helped finance a 2007 political campaign.

Four men — brothers Martín and Cristian Lanatta and brothers Víctor and Marcelo Schillaci — were convicted of the killings as co-perpetrators of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated homicide; the court found the motive to be a dispute over the ephedrine trade. In December 2015, three of them escaped from prison, taking a guard hostage; after a large manhunt and a shootout and car crash, all were recaptured.

Ibar Esteban Pérez Corradi — the businessman the prosecution described as the alleged instigator of the killings, and the man Forza's widow had earlier suspected of being behind them — was captured in Brazil in June 2016 and extradited to Argentina. He was never convicted of the murders: a court found insufficient evidence to hold him for the killings, and that case lapsed in 2023. He was separately convicted of ephedrine trafficking, a seven-year sentence upheld by Argentina's Supreme Court in 2022.

Separately, in 2015 a television programme aired claims by two of the convicted men implicating a serving national government minister as the mastermind; a court dismissed those claims in 2020, finding that the figure they described had been a media construction.

Key facts

Victims
Damián Ferrón, Sebastián Forza, Leopoldo Bina
Date
2008
Location
General Rodríguez, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 2008-08-07

    Sebastián Forza, Damián Ferrón, and Leopoldo Bina are reported missing after meeting at a supermarket in Sarandí, Buenos Aires.

  2. 2008-08-13

    The three men are found dead, shot and partially buried, in General Rodríguez, Argentina, with evidence of recent torture.

  3. 2008-09

    Import of ephedrine is restricted, limiting it to labs preparing legal drugs containing it.

  4. 2015

    Journalist Jorge Lanata interviews José Luis Salerno and Martín Lanatta, who claim Aníbal Fernández was 'La Morsa,' the alleged mastermind of the killings.

  5. 2015-12-27

    Cristian Lanatta, Martín Lanatta, and Víctor Schilacci escape from prison, taking a guard hostage and fleeing in a prison employee's car.

  6. 2016-06-09

    Ibar Pérez Corradi is captured in the Triple Border area with a Paraguayan ID and altered fingerprints.

  7. 2020-10

    Claims implicating Aníbal Fernández as 'La Morsa' are dismissed in court, which found the claim was a media construction.

Best coverage

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People

  • Víctor Schilacci

    CONVICTED

    Detained and sentenced for the killings; later escaped from prison in December 2015 and was recaptured.

  • María Servini de Cubría

    LAW ENFORCEMENT

    Judge who worked on a related drug trafficking case and requested Ibar Pérez Corradi's extradition.

  • Marcelo Schilacci

    CONVICTED

    Detained and sentenced for the killings.

  • Martín Lanatta

    CONVICTED

    Detained and sentenced for the killings; later escaped from prison in December 2015 and was recaptured.

  • Damián Ferrón

    VICTIM

    Pharmaceutical businessman found dead on August 13, 2008.

  • Ibar Pérez Corradi

    CHARGED

    Remained at large for a longer period following the killings; captured in the Triple Border area on June 9, 2016, and contested extradition.

  • Cristian Lanatta

    CONVICTED

    Detained and sentenced for the killings; later escaped from prison in December 2015 and was recaptured.

  • Sebastián Forza

    VICTIM

    Pharmaceutical businessman found dead on August 13, 2008.

  • María Eugenia Vidal

    LAW ENFORCEMENT

    Governor of Buenos Aires province who dismissed jailing system leaders suspected of abetting the December 2015 prison escape.

  • Sebastián Casanello

    LAW ENFORCEMENT

    Judge who worked on the triple crime case and requested Ibar Pérez Corradi's extradition.

  • Leopoldo Bina

    VICTIM

    Pharmaceutical businessman found dead on August 13, 2008.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

General Rodríguez, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

-34.6167, -58.9667

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Three pharmaceutical businessmen — Sebastián Forza, Damián Ferrón, and Leopoldo Bina — were reported missing on 7 August 2008 and found shot dead in General Rodríguez, Argentina, on 13 August 2008, in a case tied to the illegal ephedrine trade. Four men were later convicted of the killings.
Where did the crime happen?
General Rodríguez, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
Who was convicted?
Víctor Schilacci (Detained and sentenced for the killings; later escaped from prison in December 2015 and was recaptured.), Marcelo Schilacci (Detained and sentenced for the killings.), Martín Lanatta (Detained and sentenced for the killings; later escaped from prison in December 2015 and was recaptured.), and Cristian Lanatta (Detained and sentenced for the killings; later escaped from prison in December 2015 and was recaptured.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in Argentina

Sources

  1. PRESSForza, Bina y Ferron: venganza y muerte tras el trafico de efedrinaLA NACION · 2026-07-11
  2. ENCYCLOPEDICTriple crimeWikipedia · 2026-07-10