An Italian prosecutor sought life sentences for the suspected mastermind of a 2007 mafia massacre in Duisburg, Germany.

Giovanni Strangio is suspected of planning and helping to carry out the deadly attack outside a pizzeria in the western German city. Six rival clan members were gunned down when two attackers fired some 70 bullets at them.

Prosecutors believe that the massacre was the result of a long-running feud between the Nirta-Strangio and the Pelle-Vottari clans of the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate. Prosecutors are also seeking life sentences for eight other co-defendants, 18 years in prison for three others and 15 for another.

In his closing remarks, the prosecutor said that the killings "were the result of deep-rooted and blind hatred that had accumulated as years went by."

Strangio was arrested in Amsterdam in 2009 and extradited to Italy. Italian law allows for the prosecution of crimes committed abroad if the victims are Italian citizens. A life sentence is the stiffest penalty Italy has to offer.

A long-standing clan feud

Strangio had been one of the most wanted people in both Germany and Italy. Dutch, German and Italian police cooperated in a lengthy probe of telephone wire tapping and surveillance before his arrest. Duisburg public prosecutors had tried to have the suspect extradited to Germany, but a Dutch court eventually ruled that Italy's claim to the suspect was stronger than Germany's.

Not only were all of the victims Italian, the judge said, but the crime was linked to clashes between the rival clans in the Italian town of San Luca.

"Therefore the relation with Italy is bigger than the relation with Duisburg where the crime took place," Judge Fred Salomon said at the time."

The battle between the Nirta-Strangio and Pelle-Vottari clans has left 16 people dead since 1991. Investigators have drawn a link between the Duisburg massacre and the 2006 murder of Maria Strangio, the wife of clan leader Giovanni Nirta and the cousin of Giovanni Strangio.

Author: Holly Fox (AFP, AP)
Editor: Toma Tasovac