ITALY:More than 500 policemen surrounded the tiny Calabrian village of San Luca yesterday morning as part of a "round-up" in which 32 people were arrested on charges ranging from Mafia association to arms trafficking to murder. As part of the same operation, two men were arrested in the Lazio town of Latina.
San Luca is a stronghold of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia, which earned itself unwelcome international headlines on August 15th when six Italians were shot dead in an execution outside a restaurant in the German town of Duisburg.
At the time, Italian and German investigators argued the Duisburg killings were probably the result of an ongoing bloody feud between rival 'Ndrangheta families based in San Luca.
Although none of those arrested yesterday is believed to have been involved in the Duisburg killings, a police statement pointed out the arrests came within the ambit of ongoing investigations into the feud.
Italian investigators now believe the Duisburg executions were a "response" to the Christmas Day 2005 killing of Maria Strangio, wife of an 'Ndrangheta godfather killed accidentally in a shoot-out intended to eliminate her husband, Giovanni Nirta.
Initially, investigators speculated the main target of the Duisburg shootings had been 39-year-old Sebastiano Strangio, owner of the Da Bruno restaurant outside which all the men were killed. Yesterday's police statement would suggest all six men were targets since all belonged to the Vottari/Pelle family held responsible for the Christmas Day killing.
Further proof of the Mafia involvement of all six emerged earlier this week when it was revealed the youngest of those killed, 18-year-old Tommaso Venturi, had a partially burnt picture of a saint in his pockets. It is believed the burning of such a santino is widely used as an initiation rite for Mafia and 'Ndrangheta membership. Investigators believe the late-night meal in Da Bruno was not to celebrate Venturi's 18th birthday but rather his "recruitment" into the Vottari/Pelle 'Ndrangheta family.
"There is every chance that we will arrive at the truth about the tragic events of Duisburg. We had the distinct impression that the feud was not over. Indeed, two days before August 15th, one of our police reports sounded the alarm. Unfortunately, it was absolutely right," said state prosecutor Franco Scuderi yesterday.
The feud at the heart of this bloody gang warfare is believed to have been started by an egg-throwing incident during celebrations in San Luca on St Valentine's day 16 years ago.
San Luca is considered a stronghold and safe hiding place for 'Ndrangheta "soldiers". The 'Ndrangheta itself, with an annual turnover of perhaps €36 billion from arms trafficking and its control of much of Europe's cocaine trade, has long since outgrown its more famous Sicilian counterpart, Cosa Nostra.
An important day in Italy's seemingly never-ending war with organised crime, yesterday also saw the arrest of a wanted Camorra - the Naples Mafia - boss, 54-year-old Salvatore Lo Russo, reportedly a key figure in the Naples drug trade.
Meanwhile, in Palermo, in Sicily, police are puzzling over the significance of two postcards sent to imprisoned Mafia godfathers "Toto" Riina and Bernardo Provenzano.
Both cards, intercepted by prison authorities, read, "Peace is over", prompting concerns that mob warfare might be about to break out in Sicily too.