Francesco Barbaro (13 May 1927 – 1 November 2018), also known as U'Castanu, was a boss of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type criminal organisation based in Calabria, Italy.

[2] He became a member of Camera di Controllo, a provincial commission of the 'Ndrangheta formed at the end of the Second 'Ndrangheta war in September 1991, to avoid further internal conflicts.

[4] Many of the 'Ndrangheta clans in Platì, such as Trimboli, Sergi, Romeo, Zappia, Papalia and Marando are associated through blood relations, which center around the Barbaro.

[13] Arrested for the first time in the 1970s, when he served six years in prison for conspiracy to commit a crime, Barbaro was subsequently convicted of a kidnapping in Calabria in 1989.

[1] He was sentenced to life imprisonment together with his nephew Antonio Papalia from Buccinasco (Milan) for the murder of Brigadier Antonino Marino, which took place in Bovalino (Reggio Calabria) on 9 September 1990.