Brazil extradites mafia boss Rocco Morabito to Italy

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Rocco Morabito with police officers in Brasilia: Was on the list of the most dangerous criminals wanted

Photo: UESLEI MARCELINO / REUTERS

Brazilian authorities have extradited a senior member of Italy's 'Ndrangheta to Italy.

Rocco Morabito arrived at Rome Ciampino Airport on Wednesday morning, police said.

The 56-year-old had to serve a 30-year prison sentence, it said.

According to the police, he was one of the top dealers in the international drug business, with which the Calabrian mafia organization 'Ndrangheta makes its money.

The Ministry of the Interior in Rome put him on the list of the most dangerous wanted criminals.

The mafia boss was on the run for 23 years.

In September 2017, the authorities finally arrested him in Uruguay, South America, as the Carabinieri further announced.

Shortly before his extradition to Italy, he broke out of prison in the capital Montevideo on June 24, 2019 and went into hiding again.

Almost two years later, a Mafia special unit of the Carabinieri, with the help of the US Federal Police FBI and the US Drug Enforcement Agency DEA, tracked down the wanted man and another 'Ndrangheta mafioso in the Brazilian coastal town of João Pessoa in the state of Paraíba.

The Brazilian police arrested him there on May 25, 2021.

bbr/dpa