DUISBURG, Germany – Six Italian men were fatally shot in the head in a western German city Wednesday, an execution-style killing that Italy's interior minister said appeared to be a feud between two Italian organized crime clans.
The six victims were found in two vehicles near the main train station in Duisburg in the early morning. One of the men died while being taken by ambulance to a hospital, police spokesman Hermann-Josef Helmich said. All had gunshot wounds to the head.
Helmich said the men, between the ages of 16 and 39, were Italians, but gave no other information on their identities.
In Rome, Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the slayings apparently were the result of a feud between two rival clans involved in the 'ndrangheta crime syndicate of Italy's southern Calabria region.
Amato said one of the victims in Duisburg, whom he did not identify, apparently was one of the authors of what is known as the "San Luca feud" for the Calabrian town where it began in 1991.
Investigators from Interpol in Rome left Wednesday for Duisburg to help with the probe, a Interpol spokeswoman in Rome said on customary condition of anonymity.
Police said the two vehicles, a car and a van, had collided in a narrow passage between two office buildings. It was unclear whether the collision occurred before or during the shootings.
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