Six Italians were shot dead in front of a family restaurant in western Germany yesterday in a dramatic spillover from a deadly mafia family feud which has simmered in a tiny southern Italian town for years. The killings marked the first time that a mafia syndicate has carried out a revenge attack on foreign soil, according to Italian authorities.
The men were gunned down outside the Da Bruno restaurant in the centre of the quiet Ruhr valley town of Duisburg after an 18th birthday celebration for German-born Tommaso Venturi, one of the victims. Venturi, an apprentice at the restaurant, died on the way to hospital.
The other five, including the owner Sebastiano Strangio, 39, his 16-year-old nephew Francesco Giorgi, brothers Francesco and Marco Pergola, 22 and 20, and Marco Marmo, 25, all of whom were from Calabria, were found dead in two cars at the scene, riddled with shots. Forensic scientists said more than 70 bullets had been fired. All the victims were believed to have been unarmed.
The shootings were heard by a young woman walking in the area close to the main railway station in the early hours of yesterday morning. She alerted a nearby police patrol car. Two men were seen running from the scene. Police said they were scanning CCTV footage.
Police cordoned off the area, erecting tents around the bodies, while distressed relatives and friends of the victims comforted each other nearby.
The killings were believed to be the result of a 16-year-old conflict between the Nirta-Strangio and the Pelle-Romeo clans, two rival families of the 'Ndrangheta mafia mob native to Calabria, Italy's "toe", which has its roots in the 19th century.
The victims were from or connected to the Nirta-Strangio family, according to Italian authorities.
The conflict, known as the "San Luca feud" after the Calabrian town which both families come from, has its origins in a row over a thrown firework during a carnival in San Luca, according to experts. That led to the murder of two members of the Nirta-Strangio clan.
A string of tit-for-tat killings followed until 2000 when Italian investigators believed the feud had been resolved. But it reignited on Christmas Day 2006 with the murder of Maria Strangio, wife of the alleged boss Giovanni Nirta. The Duisburg murders bring the number of victims of the feuding to 15.
"This was a settling of scores without precedent and it is the first time for it to take place in a foreign country," said Luigi De Sena, a senior Italian police officer.
Italy's interior minister, Giuliano Amato, confirmed that one of the victims of yesterday's killing, believed to be Marco Marmo, was actively involved in the feud. He said he now feared "a third act" back in Calabria as the clans - two of 100 that make up the 'Ndrangheta - geared up for an escalation in the conflict.
Renato Cortese, chief of Calabria's flying squad, has investigated the feud and said the attacks had been carefully timed. "They like to pick dates with meaning and this happened on the eve of Ascension Day, as a follow-up to the Christmas killing of Maria Strangio," he said.
Piero Grasso, Italy's most senior mafia investigator, said the victims "had probably left San Luca to get away from the consequences" of the feud, "but were found out anyway". He added: "The presence of Calabrians in Germany is very strong but until now they have kept themselves to themselves and attempted not to be conspicuous."
The 'Ndrangheta, renowned for its close links to cocaine smuggling, is known to have established itself in the Ruhr valley over the last few years.
According to Italian authorities last year it made an estimated €35bn (£24bn) from its business activities, including drug dealing, money laundering, weapons dealing and blackmail.
A 2004 Italian government report put the group's earnings from drugs alone at more than €22bn, helping it to overtake Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Naples Camorra to become Italy's highest earning mafia organisation.
"Pressure by law enforcers on Cosa Nostra has helped the 'Ndrangheta expand its drugs operation and thanks to its tight family structures, there are few turncoats to help police," said Francesco Forgione, head of Italy's parliamentary anti-mafia commission.
Bosses, including those from the San Luca clans, have reinvested drug earnings in hotels, restaurants and construction in Germany, said Mr Forgione.
Mr Cortese said that both the Nirta-Strangio and the Pelle-Romeo clans were powerful forces in the 'Ndrangheta's drug business which he said had propelled the Calabria mafia to become Europe's top narcotics supplier, thanks to its strong ties with Colombian drug exporters.
But it is hated in its native Calabria, where 70% of businesses have to pay protection money known as "pizzo". The remaining 30% of businesses are controlled by the mafia.
"These feuds may originate with simple disputes, but they are always based on business rivalry, or as a way to determine the internal equilibrium within the 'Ndrangheta. It would be wrong to consider this as just a blood feud," Mr Forgione said.
An estimated 4,000 Italians live in Duisburg, a town of half a million residents which has long been a magnet for Italian workers from poorer parts of the south. Duisburg was the site of Germany's first Italian restaurant in the 1950s and last year the Italian football team stayed there during the World Cup.
On its website, Da Bruno described itself as being a "cut above a normal pizzeria", boasting a wide range of dishes and priding itself in having become a "favourite Italian restaurant for many Duisburgers".
