No arrests yet over Marsa vendetta murder

Police have made no arrests yet in the murder of Paul Degabriele 'is-Suldat', who was gunned down in Marsa last Friday.

Sources who spoke to MaltaToday said the police are not ruling out the possibility that a Sicilian hitman carried out the murder. "It is not the line of investigation we are following, but as things stand we have not carried out any arrests as yet," the police source told this newspaper.

Degabriele, 48 of Mosta, was shot dead at close range outside Sammy's Bar in Marsa, as he climbed into his pick-up truck at around 11am. A friend, Thomas Spagnol, was with him at the time. His assailant then climbed into a stolen Nissan van driven by an accomplice. The van was later found burnt. Degabriele was killed by three shots to the head and two to his torso using a 9mm gun.

Degabriele had already escaped with his life back in October 2012, when a bomb containing a kilo of explosive material was found under his Toyota pick-up near his Fgura flat.

His murder is widely considered to be connected to an ongoing feud between warring drug barons: in March 2012, Joseph Cutajar 'il-Lion', 45, shot dead Kevin Gatt and wounded Stephen Zammit during a night-time shootout in a Marsaskala apartment. Cutajar claimed he was ambushed, and charged with their murder of the two men - Zammit succumbed to his wounds in hospital.

In what is believed to be an act of vengeance, Degabriele's pick-up truck was rigged with explosives in October. Then in December 2012, Cutajar and Josef Grech 'il-Yo Yo' were shot dead in the space of a few hours in Mosta and Bahar ic-Caghaq. Degabriele was arrested in connection with Cutajar's murder and then released without charge.

The police are now searching for a white male, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall, of medium to large build.