Mafia six killed over an egg

The bullet-riddled bodies of five Italian men were discovered in cars parked near the main station of a German city.

A sixth victim was alive when police reached the scene but died on the way to hospital in what police believe was the result of a vendetta between two mob families.

The Strangio-Nirta crime family have been at war with a rival underworld dynasty for 16 years - ever since a member of the former family threw an egg at a member of the Pelle-Romeo clan in the carnival at San Luca in 1991.

Fifteen people have been killed since then, five in the last eight months with eight more seriously hurt. Both clans belong to the Calabrian mafia, known as the 'Ndrangheta, and based in the city of Reggio Calabria.

A report from Germany's intelligence services earlier this year said the 'Ndrangheta were deeply ensconced in Germany, laundering money and buying property.

After the egg-throwing incident, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, "the vendetta of San Luca was born".

The latest incident was revenge served up in the bloodbath in a street near the railway station of the Ruhr industrial town of Duisburg.

The unarmed victims were aged between 16 and 39 and yesterday morning weeping friends and relatives were being comforted by the police at the scene. One yelled "Sebastiano! Sebastiano!" as she was led crying into a police van.

This was for Sebastiano Strangio, 39, the oldest member of the group to die. Italian news reports said the mafiosi had been celebrating the 18th birthday of one of the victims, Tomasso Venturi.

The perpetrators of the crime appear to be the Strangio-Nirta clan - despite the name of the eldest victim. Italian police said Sebastiano Strangio was aligned with the Pelle-Romeo clan.

They had enjoyed a party at the Da Bruno pizzeria, near to the murder scene and owned by Giuseppe Strangio, who was also killed. The others were Francesco and Marco Pergola, 20 and 22, and Marco Marmo, 25. The other victim, 16, was not identified and police said that Marmo and Strangio were known mafia members with convictions for drugs and firearms.

According to police in Italy, the Pelle-Romeo family were the first to kill in the 16-year-old feud, shooting dead Francesco Strangio, 20, and Domenico Nirta, 19, with two others left seriously injured. Over the next nine years, there were a series of killings by both clans until a truce was called in 2000 which held until Christmas Day 2006 when Maria Strangio, 33-year-old wife of godfather Giovanni Nirta, was murdered and her five-year-old nephew injured by a stray bullet.

Yesterday, Luigi De Sena, Italy's new deputy police chief, said: "This is a settling of scores on an unprecedented scale."

In Rome, Giuliano Amato, Italy's interior minister, said he believed the killings were linked to the "San Luca" feud and added: "We must ensure that there is no third act in Calabria."

• THE Calabrian Honoured Society, known as 'Ndrangheta, is the equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia.

It began as a defence network for poor rural peasants against aristocratic landlords in the Calabria region of southern Italy.

Members emigrated to Canada and the United States, and were discovered running an intimidation scheme in Pennsylvania mining towns in 1906.

Instead of the pyramid structure of bosses used by other mafia groups, 'Ndrangheta uses families based on blood relationships, inter-marriages or being a godfather. Each group is named after their village or the family leader.

When Calabria began the process of industrialisation and urbanisation in the late 20th century, the 'Ndrangheta became interested in drug trafficking, weapons sales, and public works and construction.

In 2004, the authorities uncovered an international drugs trafficking network involving gangs in South America, Australia and Europe. Italian officials estimated at the time that 80 per cent of Europe's cocaine had arrived from Colombia via Gioia Tauro's docks in Calabria.

It is estimated that the 'Ndrangheta earns about 15 billion a year, mostly from illegal drugs, but also from construction rackets, restaurants and supermarkets. There are believed to be some 100 'Ndrangheta families in Calabria; they are said to be more successful than the Sicilian Mafia because of closer family ties.