How Mafia vendetta reached Germany

Five bodies were found two cars during the early hours of the morning - a sixth man later died in hospital. The execution style shootings took place in the German city of Duisberg.

The victims are linked to a long-running dispute in Italy's Calabria region, which is known as the San Luca feud after the village where it began in 1991.

Six men, shot in the head - execution style. All are Italian but this is in Germany, the mafia wars showing no regard for national borders.

The men were all under 40, one as young as sixteen and some were related.

The reality of a mafia hit is far more sombre than the films. Italian officials say they were most likely involved in, and are now the victims of, a long running feud.

All six were shot in or next to two cars parked close to an Italian restaurant, with bullets piercing the car windscreen.

It's believed these shootings are linked to the Ndrangeta, a notorious mafia group based in Calabria, and is retaliation for a killing in the town of San Luca more than fifteen years ago.

It's a dispute that's already seen 15 people murdered.

In the past the funeral bells tolled because of the actions of the Cosa Nostra - the Sicilian mafia, but despite its fame, it is no longer the most feared.

Even more ruthless is the Ndrangeta, and it now has more members.

The arrest of the mafia boss Bernardo Provezano last year showed how the Italians were taking on the Sicilian mafia, but the Ndrangeta took advantage of this and officials now admit underestimating its reach and strength.

As German police investigate these murders they will be looking into a group that is now one of Europe's biggest drug traffickers, a group made up of clans who are all related and therefore difficult to break down.

That their vendetta has spilled into another country - is deeply worrying for the Italians.

Italian police are now trying to make sure the shots fired here aren't replicated in Calabria - as mafia murders are avenged with yet more murders.

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