Mafia boss among ‘Italy’s most dangerous fugitives’ arrested at luxury villa | World | News

A mafia boss wanted for murder who had been on the run for more than a year has been arrested, Italian police said. Fugitive Roberto Mazzarella, listed by the Interior Ministry as one of the country’s four most dangerous wanted men, was captured on Good Friday after police raided a luxury resort in Vietri sul Mare (Salerno).

He had been staying at a €1,000-a-night villa under a false name with his wife and children, Italian news agency ANSA reports. Mazzarella, 48, was the head of the eponymous clan, dominant in Naples and its province. Italy’s Carabinieri military police force said the man had escaped in late January last year when he was supposed to have been arrested on murder charges.

The force added he didn’t resist the arrest on Friday.

The murder charges were brought over the death in 2000 of Antonio Maione.

Video of the raid released by the police showed armed officers at the seaside villa, where were found three luxury watches, about €20,000, some false documents, and mobile phones at the resort after their raid at the luxury resort.

The 48-year-old was considered a powerful figure within the Camorra organised crime group in Naples.

Carabinieri’s General Commander, Salvatore Luongo, told the officers involved in the operation: “I can only tell you that I am proud of Carabinieri like you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Chiara Colosimo, president of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, described the arrest as “a very significant achievement in the fight against organized crime”.

And the Naples prefect, Michele di Bari, called the operation “an investigative success”.

He added: “The result of tireless fieldwork and the extraordinary professionalism of the judiciary and the carabinieri, which strongly reaffirms the presence of the state in the territory.

“This result brings to justice an individual of high criminal danger and restores to citizens a profound sense of security and legality.”