'Super' Mafia Witness Gunned Down in Naples

The boss of a garbage disposal firm with Mafia links who had turned informant was gunned down in a bar near Naples yesterday, the Guardian reports. The murdered man had been helping police target gangs that control waste disposal in the city, currently gripped by a garbage crisis. He had been due to testify this week against an accused gangster who's a member of Italy's ruling party.

"A formidable opportunity to strike at the clans has been lost," Naples' chief anti-Mafia prosecutor told La Repubblica. The slain informant had decided to "denounce all the bonds that link politics to the Camorra. His words would have angered many people. Too many of them had an interest in taking him out." (More organized crime stories.)