ROME, Dec 27 (AFP) - Two suspected gangsters were murdered, a third was shot and seriously injured and a bystander was caught in the crossfire as a Mafia war that took more than 100 lives last year flared up in the southern Italian city of Naples.
Police said the killing appeared to be further settlings of accounts in the deadly struggle dividing the local criminal organization, the Camorra, in which a group of "secessionists" was challenging veteran drug lord Paolo Di Lauro.
Of the 134 murders recorded in and around Naples last year, 105 were directly attributed to the battle for control of the drug traffic, along with numerous arson attacks.
In the first killing of the new year, Crescenzo Marino, 70, whose two sons were reported to belong to the dissident group, was shot and killed by two gunmen as he parked his automobile in a deserted street near his home, police said.
A short while later, gunmen murdered Salvatore Barra, 30, another member of the secessionist group, in a bar on the outskirts of the city.
In a third fusilade at Ercolano, near Naples, two killers riding a motor scooter gravely injured suspected Mafia member Vincenzo Del Mastro, 25, and shot a 58-year-old passer-by in the leg.
Crescenzo Marino had a criminal record for Mafia association, police said, and his sons were recently arrested as part of an anti-gang crackdown ordered by Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, which has so far netted about 50 alleged Mafiosi.
Police said one of the Marino sons was detained at a swank hotel with 20,000 euros (27,000 dollars), a sports car, five portable phones and 500 grams (more than one pound) of cocaine in his possession.
01/02/2005 20:11 GMT - AFP