Italy Arrests Mafia Boss Linked to German Killings

Italian police said on Friday they had arrested the head of a clan of the 'Ndrangheta, or Calabrian mafia, which is suspected of being behind the execution-style killing of six Italians in Germany last year.

Giuseppe Nirta, one of Italy's most-wanted mafia fugitives, is suspected of being the "boss" of the Nirta-Strangio clan which is at the centre of a long-running feud that police believe led to last August's killings in Duisburg.

He was arrested at a relative's house in his hometown, San Luca. "Nirta put up no resistance, in fact his first words were: 'Congratulations to you and the carabinieri (paramilitary police)'," said Francesco Iacono, who led the police operation.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni praised the police, describing Nirta as a dangerous fugitive "involved in the San Luca feud which triggered the Duisburg massacre".

Nirta was wanted for murder, criminal association and illegal possession of weapons.

The Nirta-Strangio clan has been feuding with the Pelle-Vottari clan in the tiny Calabrian town of San Luca for more than 17 years. At least 20 people have been killed.

The six men slain by gunmen outside an Italian pizzeria in Duisburg were all linked to the Pelle-Vottari clan and police believe the rival clan were involved in the killings. Thirty people have been arrested since the German attack.

Locals say the San Luca feud started with an egg-throwing incident during carnival in 1991 and escalated when Nirta's daughter-in-law was shot dead on Christmas Day in 2006.

But Italian police see it as a fight for control of the drug market. The 'Ndrangheta dominates the cocaine trade in Europe and beyond. The Eurispes research group this week put the crime organisation's annual turnover at 44 billion euros ($69.2 billion) in 2007.