Mayor crime-fighter dies at wheel of car in a hail of bullets

Angelo Vassallo, 57, died instantly after being shot nine times at close range by waiting killers as he drove home from a night out.

Mr Vassallo, a father of two, was hit while he was at the wheel of his silver Audi estate and TV footage showed police examining the bullet-ridden car.

The murder - the first of a political figure for several years - took place at the seaside resort of Pollica near Salerno in southern Italy.

Officials said that the local Mafia, known as the Camorra, were known to operate in the area and had begun to muscle in on the town's numerous businesses and construction projects.

Mr Vassallo, was described by local prosecutor Alfredo Greco, as a "man on the front line against crime" and he added how he had been tipped off by him off several times about organised crime activity.

Mr Greco said: "He had been increasingly worried over the last few weeks,'' but in a bizarre twist it also emerged that Mr Vassallo himself was under investigation for alleged extortion, embezzlement and conspiracy.

A prosecution source said: "This is a killing in true Camorra style - plenty of bullets. He was hit several times and he was probably already dead but the killers kept firing. Someone wanted to teach him a lesson.

"However at the same time he was also under investigation and so we are bearing in mind all possibilities and motives but at this stage there is not a particular one, although organised crime is highly likely.''

Mr Vassallo's body was found by his brother and his wife who had gone out to look for him and they found his car down a side road close to his home early yesterday.

Detectives said his killers had probably been waiting for him and that the Audi car was parked with the handbrake on, as if he had stopped because his path was blocked.

Mr Vassallo had been elected on an independent manifesto although he had close links to the Democratic Left and environmentalists

He was nicknamed the "fisherman-mayor'' because of his work at keeping the beaches and local waters clear from pollution and as a result thousands of tourists flood the area each summer.

Because of its popularity he had recently offered 150 tombs for sale to regular holidaymakers who wanted to be buried there, with the possibility of having a web cam on the resting place so loved ones could keep watch.

As news spread of the murder, local shops pulled down their shutters and, despite it still being peak season, the streets were eerily deserted with bars and restaurants also shut.

Pierluigi Bersani, secretary of the Democratic left party, said: "I express my shock at the killing of Angelo Vassallo.It is a ferocious execution that has taken him away from his family and the local community.

"He was an honest and capable mayor, who knew how to work with spirit to achieve the principles of legality, using to the best the resources of the local area. I trust that the local forces of law and order, as well as the prosecutor, will do their utmost to shed full light on what happened and bring his killers to justice."