World

Mafia war in Palermo prevented

07:03 am on 20 April 2014

Police in Italy say they have prevented a mafia war in Palermo with eight arrests. Transcripts have also been published of an execution order given by a clan leader in prison.

"The important thing is you have to bury him," Giovanni Di Giacomo was recorded saying of a suspected rival in a bugged conversation with his brother Giuseppe, who was himself killed in an ambush in Sicily last month.

"Keep hitting him on the head," the jailed Di Giacomo said when his brother visited him in prison. "Put lime on top" and "Take off his clothes."

The transcripts did not say whether the man in question was killed.

Giuseppe Di Giacomo was de facto head of the Porta Nuova clan.

Police said six of the eight suspects were members of the Porta Nuova clan and two were from the Palermo Centro clan.