By Yasmine Salam and Matteo Moschella - NBC News
It seems that Stanley Tucci isn't the only one with a popular Italian cooking show.
A fugitive from the Italian mafia was arrested in the Dominican Republic after inadvertently giving himself up to the police for his culinary hobby.
After seven years on the run, Marc Feren Claude Biart was located through a cooking channel on YouTube that he started with his wife, according to the Italian police in a statement.
The
alleged mobster's
"love for Italian cuisine"
and the ink in his tattoos made his arrest possible, according to police, since, although he carefully concealed his face, Biart could not hide his characteristic marks on his skin.
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Police said they believe Biart is a member of the famous' Ndrangheta crime syndicate, one of the most feared and powerful in Europe, originally from the Calabria region.
Biart had been wanted for alleged cocaine trafficking to the Netherlands since 2014, according to police.
He was arrested last week in the Dominican town of Boca Chica, and extradited to Italy, where he landed on Monday.
The 53-year-old alleged mobster
had been living in the Dominican Republic
for the past five years.
Police said he had kept a low profile in that country, beyond his cooking videos on the Internet.
The locals knew him simply as "Marc", and
he stayed away from the Italian community
of the popular tourist destination.
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Biart's arrest marks a
breakthrough in the international effort
led by Interpol and multiple European police forces to crack down on organized crime.
Known as "Interpol Cooperation Against the 'Ndrangheta", the initiative launched last year aims to disrupt the global network of the mafia, which Interpol says is present "on all continents of the world."
Another member of the 'Ndrangheta was arrested
in Portugal on Monday, according to police.
Francesco Pelle, a 14-year fugitive from justice, was found in a Lisbon clinic where he was receiving treatment for COVID-19.
He is accused of ordering the murder of the head of a rival clan, who survived the attack, but whose wife died in the ambush.
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The mobster group is currently facing one of the largest Italian mob lawsuits in the last three decades.
During a pre-trial hearing on the landmark case, it took more than three hours to read the names of the
350 defendants
.
The case, which is expected to last at least a year, brings charges of kidnapping, murder and international drug trafficking.
Italian authorities said arrests such as those of Biart and Pelle show that mob activities not only threaten Italy, but
should be of concern to the entire world
.