AP News, August 23rd, 2007
Relatives wailed and others threw red roses Thursday during the funeral for two brothers killed in Germany in a suspected Mafia slaying that also left four other Italians dead.
A crowd of about 100 people, including family members, friends and local officials applauded in a sign of respect as the caskets of Francesco and Marco Pergola were carried from a church in their southern Italian hometown of Siderno, on the eastern coast of Calabria.
Outside, a heavy police presence secured the area and kept the media at a distance. A priest hugged the brothers' mother as she left the church weeping, flanked by her husband.
The coffins were swiftly driven to a local cemetery without the traditional procession through the town's streets _ a decision made by authorities amid fears of new mob violence.
The six men, aged 16 to 38, were shot dead Aug. 15 in Duisburg, Germany. The killings are believed to be the latest chapter in a feud between two clans of the 'ndrangheta, the Calabrian version of the Sicilian Mafia, who live in the tiny town of San Luca, some 18 miles south of Siderno.
The bodies of three other victims arrived Wednesday at Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci airport and were traveling Thursday to San Luca by truck under police escort.
Authorities have said the killings were likely retaliation for the Christmas 2006 shooting death of Maria Strangio, a mob boss's wife, in San Luca. Security has been beefed up around the town due to fears of a vendetta attack.
Like the ceremony in Siderno, the funerals for the three San Luca victims _ Marco Marmo, Francesco Giorgi and Sebastiano Strangio _ were expected to be closed to the media. The sixth victim, Tommaso Venturi, was being buried in Germany, where he lived with his family.
German investigators have determined that at least two people carried out the attack, and that the victims didn't shoot back. They were killed after they left Venturi's 18th birthday party at an Italian restaurant in downtown Duisburg. Police have said a witness saw two men enter a large, dark sedan that drove away quickly.
The 'ndrangheta is linked to crime around the world, and today is considered even more dangerous than the Sicilian Mafia.
