Mafia suspects arrested after Germany shootings

Italian police were arresting scores of suspects today in a crackdown on organised crime clans believed to be involved in a feud that claimed the lives of six Italians in Germany earlier this month.

ANSA and Apcom news agencies said police were carrying out as many as 40 arrest warrants in the southern Calabria region, but it was not clear how many people had effectively been picked up.

ANSA said charges included Mafia association, murder and arms trafficking. However, those directly responsible for the killings in Germany were not arrested, ANSA said.

The six men, aged 16 to 38, were shot dead on August 15 in Duisburg. The killings are believed to be the latest chapter in a feud between two clans of the ’ndrangheta, the Calabrian version of the Sicilian Mafia. The two clans are based in the tiny town of San Luca.