Vendetta killings: The Mafia’s long reach from Italy

The vendetta murders in Germany of six young Italians have their roots hundreds of kilometres away in southern Italy. Police have opened two lines of inquiry: one looking into what happened in Duisberg, the other what lies behind it, so far from Italy.

In Rome, the Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato confirmed the involvement of the ‘Ndrangheta’, the southern Italian mafia group, which is heavily-involved in drugs. He said the vendetta began 16 years ago in 1991, with a violent argument between two families from San Luca in Calabria, deep in the south of Italy.

Six people had died in San Luca by 2000. After a lull, the killings began again late last year. There have been six more murders in Calabria, followed by the executions in Germany.

One of the latest victims was suspected of a murder in San Luca.

Officials think the six may have been sent to Duisberg to escape retribution.

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