Brother of Alleged Italian Crime Boss Killed in Shooting
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NAPLES, Italy — Gunmen attacked the brother of a reputed crime boss on the steps of a police station here Sunday, triggering a fatal shootout that slightly wounded an American passerby.
Luigi Vastarella, 31, whose brother, Raffaele, is believed to head the Vastarella crime clan in Naples, had just come out of the police station. Italian law requires suspects who are free on their own recognizance to periodically sign in at police stations.
One of two gunmen started firing a pistol wildly, and a police officer who looked out the window began firing too, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Vastarella was hit and died on the way to a hospital.
Police said passerby Herman Chanowitz, 83, a Chicago native who teaches English at a military base, was treated for a bullet wound in the calf and released, ANSA reported.
Feuds between Camorra clans fighting for control of cigarette smuggling, extortion rackets and drug smuggling in the Naples area have claimed at least 50 victims so far this year.
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