Police reinforcements tackle Mafia killings

ROME, Italy (AP) -- Italian authorities said Friday they were deploying more police in southern Italy in an effort to stem violence after the suspected Mafia slayings of three people in less than a week.

Dozens of police officers were on their way to Crotone, in the southern region of Calabria, amid an ongoing feud between rival clans of the 'ndrangheta crime syndicate, police official Domenico Gentile said.

On Thursday, Francesco Capicchiano was killed in broad daylight, a slaying investigators believe is linked to the slaying a day earlier of Giuseppe Cavallo, the police official said.

On Saturday, Luca Megna, whose father is in jail for ties with the 'ndrangheta, was shot dead in an attack that also left his 5-year-old daughter in a coma.

Gentile said the three men allegedly have ties to the 'ndrangheta, a crime syndicate that is based in Calabria, the region neighboring Sicily, and has risen in power and international reach in recent years.

The group came into the spotlight last summer when six Italians were killed outside a pizzeria in Germany as part of an unrelated clan war. E-mail to a friend

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