Six shot dead in the Mafia family feud which began when an egg was thrown as a prank

Yesterday the Mafia vendetta that was triggered that day led to the massacre of six unarmed men in a hail of bullets.

The murders took the death toll in the feud to at least 15, with eight more victims left seriously wounded. It also carried the slaughter from Italy to the German city of Duisburg.

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Police in both countries believe a two-man hit squad was sent to Germany, from where they watched their victims for some days before moving in for the kill.

The men, aged from 16 to 38, were all shot in the head at close range as they sat in cars near the main railway station at 2.30am.

They had just enjoyed a party at a pizzeria to celebrate the 18th birthday of Tomasso Venturi, one of the victims.

Their killers, believed to have been using automatic weapons, fired at least 70 shots.

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German TV stations showed gruesome pictures of the scene. The bodies of two victims were sprawled under bloodstained white sheets beside a black VW car.

One man lived long enough to reach hospital, but died without saying anything.

Italian experts said the two crime families involved in the feud are both part of the notoriously-violent Calabrian Mafia, based in Reggio Calabria in southern Italy.

The organisation, known as the 'Ndrangheta, or honoured society, has extended its activities deep into Germany in recent years. The feud began in 1991 with an argument over which clan had put on the best firework display at a carnival in the town of San Luca.

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As the jibes flew, a member of the Strangio-Nirta family threw the egg at a man from the Pelle-Romeos. The Pelle-Romeo family took revenge soon afterwards, shooting dead Francesco Strangio, 20, and Domenico Nirta, 19.

Over the next nine years there were killings by both clans until a truce was called in 2000. It held until Christmas Day last year when Maria Strangio, 33-year-old wife of Godfather Giovanni Nirta, was shot dead on her doorstep and her five-year-old nephew wounded by a stray bullet.

Yesterday their family hit back with horrific force.

One of the victims, identified only as Sebastiano S, 38, was said to have been involved in the original egg-throwing.

The carnage was discovered shortly after a cleaner on her way to work heard shots. She flagged down a police car but officers were too late to stop the killings.

Throughout the day weeping friends and relatives of the dead men arrived at the scene. One woman sobbed 'Sebastiano! Sebastiano!' as she was gently led to a police van.

Earlier this year a leaked classified report by the BND - Germany's MI5 - said two major Italian crime families now have a "massive presence" in Germany.

The study said the 'Ndrangheta had invested tens of millions of its crime proceeds in German hotels, restaurants, houses and stocks and shares.

It has linked up with Albanian gangs to smuggle weapons and drugs into the EU.