The bullet-ridden bodies of three men were found in a car in Naples today as police and government chiefs held emergency meetings over how to combat a mob turf battle in the southern Italian city.
"There's a war under way," said General Vincenzo Giuliani, provincial commander of the Carabinieri police in Naples after visiting the murder scene.
One of the dead men, all locals in their 20s and early 30s, was found in the trunk. Local media said the bodies showed signs of torture and speculated they were victims of a power struggle in a high-stakes trade in drugs, arms and prostitution.
The car was found close to the site of a suspected hit by the Naples version of the Mafia - the Camorra - at the weekend which killed a 25-year-old man and wounded five people.
Interior Minister Mr Giuseppe Pisanu called a crisis meeting of top staff today to discuss the crime wave at which it was decided to "intensify the activities of intelligence, prevention and combat" against crime, the ministry said in a statement.
"In no other Italian province has there been a comparable effort in terms of human and material resources from the government as in Naples," the ministry said.
With more than 230 murders linked to organised crime between 1999 and 2003, the Mediterranean port city has earned the dubious distinction of being Italy's homicide capital. Police chiefs warned the situation risked getting out of control.
"Believe me, it always seems like nothing is enough to solve Naples' problems," the head of Naples police, Mr Franco Malvano, said in an interview with La Stampa newspaper today.
"There is scant cooperation (from the locals) because unfortunately a widespread, delinquent culture has taken root. It's difficult to wipe out."
In a separate anti-Mafia investigation, six people including two former members of parliament, two judges and a journalist were arrested in the southern city of Reggio-Calabria, where the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate holds sway.
The arrests were part of an investigation into cases of alleged interference with magistrates examining relations between politicians and mafiosi.
Two parliamentarians - the vice-chairwoman of parliament's anti-Mafia committee and a junior justice minister - are also under investigation.