They captured in Brazil the boss of the Italian mafia Rocco Morabito, escaped from a Uruguayan prison in 2019

The Italian chef Rocco morabito, escaped from a prison in Uruguay in June 2019, was captured on Monday in the city of Joao pessoa, in northeastern Brazil, informed the Federal Police (PF).

Morabito, 54 years old, considered to be the capo of the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, was arrested “with another Italian outlaw”, whose identity has not been disclosed, as a result “According to a joint investigation between Brazil and Italy”, according to a police statement.

“Since yesterday (Sunday), a team of Italian police officers from the Interpol central office in Rome, who participated in the investigation, and riflemen, have moved to Brazil with a view to arrest”the police added.

According to the PF, Morabito is one of Italy’s most wanted criminals.

“There are traces of Rocco Morabito’s performance in organizing drug trafficking between Brazil and Europe since the 1990s”, explained the PF, who announced a press conference for Tuesday with details of the operation.

The Supreme Federal Court (STF) had ordered his arrest.

Morabito had been wanted since 1995 by the Italian justice, who accuses him of illicit association Yes drug trafficking, and had been sentenced in absentia to 28 years in prison, subsequently extended to 30 years.

Uruguayan authorities arrested Morabito, what was considered one of the 10 most wanted criminals in the world, in 2017 in a hotel in Montevideo after having lived for 13 years with another identity in the Uruguayan seaside resort of Punta del Este.

Uruguayan justice approved his extradition to Italy in 2018, But in June 2019 he starred in a notorious escape from the roof of the central prison of Montevideo with three other strangers, and since then he had been a fugitive.

In 1994, Morabito left Milan, where he became known as “King of Cocaine.”

He arrived there at the age of 25, from his hometown of Africo, in Calabria, considered the “Bastion of the ‘Ndrangheta”.

(With information from AFP)

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