Germany shocked by Mafia bloodbath

DUISBURG, Germany, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Germany has been shocked by an Italian Mafia feud that escalated when an assassination team killed six men at a pizzeria in the western German city of Duisburg.

Italian authorities said the killings were sparked by a feud that started in Sicily back in 1991 between rival families belonging to the ’Ndrangheta Mafia gang.

German security officials are concerned -- it was the first high-profile killing scheme the Mafia has launched in the country. Marco Minniti, Italy’s deputy interior minister, said that the violence at Duisburg was “a worrying and unprecedented qualitative leap” as the killers had taken their feud to a foreign country.

More than 500,000 Italians live in Germany; the country is also home to some Mafia members, but they have so far kept a very low profile. According to Italian authorities, 'Ndrangheta is one of the world's most powerful criminal organizations, responsible for nearly all of Europe's cocaine imports.

The six victims, ages 16 to 29, were found in the early hours of Wednesday, after they had finished celebrating the 18th birthday of one of the victims. All men worked in a pizza restaurant called Da Bruno, in the western German city of Duisburg. Police said the men were sprayed with machine-gun fire and then executed with single bullets to the head.

The killings have caused an uproar in Germany, a country where gun crime figures are low and shootings of such scale are unheard of. Authorities in Italy and Germany have vowed to find the killers.

Early Friday a black sculpture of two converging clenched fists could be seen in front of the restaurant -- a Mafia symbol for revenge, and a warning sign for German and Italian authorities that the violence likely isn't over.