Death in Duisburg: Italian crime fiction and the transnational evolution of a southern archetype

As the first-ever case of a southern Italian mafia exporting its vendetta to another country, the Duisburg massacre of 2007, a conflict involving two rival ‘ndrangheta clans, shocked the European public. Because of its cultural prominence, the incident inspired many cinematic and TV narratives. This article analyses three recent Italian productions inspired by the Duisburg massacre: Una vita tranquilla ( A Quiet Life ) (); Gomorra: La serie ( Gomorrah: The Series ) – Season 2, Episode 2: ‘Lacrime e sangue’ (‘Blood and Tears’) (2016) and Duisburg : Linea di sangue (‘Duisburg: Line of blood’) (). This article uncovers a formula behind the common narrative model of a war between feuding mafias that mixes echoes of the classical Italian brigantaggio and the effects of emigration on southern Italian traditional culture.