Rüsselsheim killing fields for duelling mafia clans.

brutal murder of four people at a provincial German ice cream parlour last night raised fears that the country is fast becoming a killing field for duelling mafia clans. The attack occurred in Rüsselsheim – home to the Opel car factory – where many Italian workers have settled, establishing pizzerias and cafes with their savings. Three men, described as being of “Mediterranean appearance” approached the ice cream salon just before dusk and fired rapidly at a group of three male customers. A woman standing nearby was also killed, but it was still unclear last night whether she was a target or was gunned down by accident.
The shadow of the Calabrian mafia may thus again be stretching over the industrial heartland of Germany. A few days ago, Italian police arrested Paolo Nirta, the acting head of the San Luca clan, a stronghold of the Calabrian gangs known as the ‘Ndrangheta. Nirta is suspected of involvement in the killing of six Italians in a pizzeria in Duisburg, in western Germany, almost exactly a year ago. That was regarded as a vengeance killing: Nirta’s sister-in-law, Maria Strangio was shot down on her doorstep just before Christmas 2006. A major man hunt was underway with helicopters and tracker dogs deployed around much of the surrounding area. The assassins were said by witnesses to have both pistols and knives.
Plainly though, the ice-cream murders may be part of an elaborate tit-for-tat. Somebody betrayed Nirta to the police last week. That usually triggers a revenge attack. Germany was shocked by the Duisburg murders last year and it will be equally concerned by the ice cream parlour killings. There are some 540,000 Italians living in Germany, most of them well integrated. They are the descendents of “Guest workers” who were brought to Germany from poorer corners of southern Italy after World War Two to help fuel the country’s economic recovery. Until last year, there was no substantial evidence of Italian mafia involvement in the German criminal economy. The ‘Ndrangheta makes its money largely through drug trafficking, manipulating contracts in the building industry, protection rackets and prostitution. Italian involvement, even in the German drug trade, has however, been marginal. Instead, the Calabrian gangs have used German-based Italian restaurants and suppliers as a way of laundering money. But, crime experts have been warning that this supposedly “white collar” crime would ultimately bring violence to the streets of Germany. “If we allow crime proceeds to seep into another economy, if drug or extortion money from Italy enters Germany, then that is no longer the end of the story,” says Federico Varese, a professor of criminology and expert on organised crime. “It is possible, that the ‘Ndrangheta will move up from simple money laundering to become more entrenched in the German economy – and that is the most dangerous situation you can imagine.”

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Four men reportedly stormed the De Rocco ice-cream parlour in Rüsselsheim south-west of Frankfurt yesterday evening and shot three people dead

Four men reportedly stormed the De Rocco ice-cream parlour in Rüsselsheim south-west of Frankfurt yesterday evening and shot three people dead before fleeing down a pedestrian street.Two Turkish citizens, aged 49 and 28, were arrested today following a manhunt involving more than 200 police with helicopters and sniffer dogs. Police were continuing their search. One of the victims was a 55-year old Greek woman identified as Anna K, who ran a Greek restaurant next to the ice-cream parlour. She was caught in the crossfire after leaving the cafe as the dispute escalated, and died from internal bleeding in the arms of her husband at the scene.
The two other victims were men of Turkish origin aged 26 and 29. The first was described by police as being one of the attackers. His 21-year-old brother was also seriously injured and under police protection in hospital last night. The second dead man was said to have been sitting at the table when the men opened fire.
The attack has raised fears that provincial Germany is becoming a battleground for gang warfare after an incident almost exactly a year ago in which six Italians were gunned down at an Italian-run pizzeria in Duisburg, north-west of Frankfurt. It was quickly established that the Calabrian mafia, known as the 'Ndrangheta, was responsible for that shootout and had taken advantage of the relative obscurity of provincial Germany to continue a decades-old feud. The killings were the first time a mafia syndicate had carried out a revenge attack on foreign soil.
Today police refused to rule out a mafia or organised crime connection in the Rüsselsheim killings, but said the Turkish origin of the victims and attackers in the latest incident suggested the attacks were not linked.
"We don't know why the attack took place in the ice cream parlour," Roland Desch of Hessen police said.The brutality of the killings has shocked Germany and raised concerns that it is becoming a hub for underground economic crime.
"This is a very complex case," said Stefan Müller of the state of Hesse crime squad. He added that the killings, which involved knives as well as two guns, could have been "honour killings" which either had to do with a dispute between two parties, or were sparked by rivalries between two gangs. The police said there was evidence that a motive for the attack may have been unpaid gambling winnings and be linked to another gambling dispute three years ago. At least two of the men involved in the incident were caught up in a dispute involving knives at a Turkish community centre in Rüsselsheim last Saturday to which the police were called.

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