Seven others were given life sentences linked to the feud at the same trial. Giovanni Strangio was convicted in 2011 of being the mastermind and one of the authors of the Duisburg killings. The feud was blamed for at least 16 deaths in total, with the killings in Germany bringing it to international attention. Reprisals escalated after the killing, on Christmas Day, 2006, of Maria Strangio, the wife of clan leader Giovanni Nirta.ДЄ view of San Luca village in the southern region of Calabria - the Italian heartland of the 'Ndrangheta crime clan The feud between the Nirta-Strangio and Pelle-Vottari clans reportedly began with an egg-throwing prank in 1991. Vottari was one of 31 people sentenced to prison terms in 2009 in connection with the Duisburg killings, which happened after a vendetta between two clans based in the same village, San Luca, spiralled out of control. He was given a prison term of 10 years and eight months, two years after he went on the run. Vottari was convicted in absentia in 2009 of being one of the heads of an 'Ndrangheta clan whose feud with local rivals culminated in the Duisburg killings. He was arrested hiding behind a trap door of a bunker having gone to ground over a 2007 massacre in Germany. Last year, another suspected boss of the crime clan, Santo Vottari, was detained in Calabria having been on the run for a decade. His arrest was hailed by the government as a significant victory for the state in its battle against the powerful mafia group. On the run since 1996, he was convicted in absentia in 1999 of mafia association, kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons and a double homicide linked to a bloody 1989-91 feud which left 32 people dead in his home town of Taurianova. The 'Ndrangheta member was captured in an apartment in a remote part of the southern region of Calabria. In 2016, one ofВ Italy's most wanted mafia bosses Ernesto Fazzalari was arrested after two decades on the run, fleeing a life sentence for murder.

In another sting that year, police snatched assets worth ВЈ1.4billion from the 'Ndrangheta, which included more than 1,500 betting shops, 82 online gambling sites and almost 60 companies. In 2015, 163 people were arrested in a major crackdown on the notorious mafia gang, which by that time had become the most powerful crime organisation in the country.

The organisation's tight clan-based structure has made it hard to penetrate, but police have made some in roads in recent years. A year later,В another suspected boss of the crime clan, Santo Vottari (right), was detained in Calabria having been on the run for a decade In 2016, a suspected 'Ndrangheta boss, Ernesto Fazzalari (left), was arrested after two decades on the run, fleeing a life sentence for murder.

Take the throne or leave town mafia 3