Police search Italian town after mafia killings

SAN LUCA, Italy, Aug 16 (Reuters) Italian police searched houses and set up roadblocks today around the town at the centre of a mafia turf war blamed for the execution-style killing of six people in Germany.

Investigators believe yesterday's shooting of six Italian men in the northwestern German city of Duisburg was the latest chapter in a long-running feud between two mafia clans in the region of Calabria, home to the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate.

They now fear a bloody reprisal from the families of the victims, who were all shot in the head. Italian authorities said the brazen attack was unprecedented, both because of the high death toll and the fact that it took place in a foreign country.

''There have been several searches as part of the investigation,'' Renato Cortese, chief police inspector in the regional capital, Reggio Calabria, told Reuters.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Thursday appealed to Italian youth in the country's poorer south to stand up against organised crime, warning the government was battling a powerful network with ''enormous capital'' and an international presence.

''Let it be clear that the Italian government has begun a fight against organised crime that is very strong,'' he told reporters in Tuscany, where he is on holiday. He also called for cooperation with other European nations on the issue.

EGG-THROWING START Outside San Luca, the small southern town where the two rival clans are based and where their dispute started with a quarrel over egg-throwing nearly two decades ago, a handful of carabinieri set up checkpoints, witnesses said.

The town, home to around 4,000 people, was mostly deserted.

''These killings have really shaken us and we are very sad. We are praying so that this kind of things does not happen in our community anymore,'' said Father Stefano, a local priest.

Investigators said the six killed in Germany were all linked to San Luca's Vottari-Romeo-Pelle clan, which has been locked in a feud with the rival Strangio-Nirta family since 1991.

Investigators say the feud started when members of the two clans got into a brawl over rotten egg-throwing and tossing of fireworks during Carnival celebrations.

Since then it has grown into an all-out struggle for power and economic influence, and at least 15 people have been killed, investigators said.

''You don't go on killing people for 20 years just for throwing an egg,'' Cortese said.

Francesco Gratteri, the head of the national anti-crime unit, who took part in a meeting of top police officials today, said the two families had ''clearly conflicting economic interests''.

German police said both clans had established a presence in Germany. Italian secret services said in a report this month that the 'Ndrangheta was the most dangerous crime syndicate in Italy and one of world's top drug trafficking cartels.

The 'Ndrangheta, which had traditionally kept a lower profile than the more famous Sicilian mafia, is made of around 140 clans mostly based on blood relations and marriages. It has infiltrated most businesses in southern Italy and spread abroad along with Italian migrants.

Reuters SBC DB2359