Italy police arrest Mafia killer caught on video

Italian police arrested a suspected Mafia hitman yesterday whose brazen killing of a man in Naples last May was caught on video and shocked the country, prompting reluctant witnesses to come forward.

Prosecutors released the video shot by closed-circuit cameras after five months of fruitless investigations, hoping the graphic footage of the broad daylight murder outside a bar would break a wall of silence surrounding the killer's identity.

The bet paid off when police arrested Costanzo Apice, 27, with the help of a witness who recognised him as the murderer.

The video showed the killer, his face clearly visible, calmly shooting dead his victim while bystanders appear completely indifferent - though their lack of reaction could also have been because of fear of retaliation.

A woman could be seen rubbing off a scratch card while Mariano Bacio Tarracino, a 53-year old with a Mafia criminal record, was shot next to her on May 11.

Another woman walks over Mr Tarracino's body in the street.

A man holding a toddler in his arms looks at the victim, then walks away.

Naples, Italy's third biggest city, is home to the Camorra crime syndicate and its residents have become inured and all but resigned to the almost daily violence on its streets.