After 16 years on the run, they capture a dangerous gangster who worked as a cook in a pizzeria

By Patrick Smith -

A mafia hitman, a fugitive for 16 years, was arrested this Thursday in France, where he worked as a cook in a pizzeria.

Edgardo Greco, 63, linked to the notorious Italian criminal group '

and convicted of the murder of two people in the early 1990s, was detained by French police in the south-eastern French city of Saint-Étienne.

[Arrested Matteo Messina, the most wanted mafia boss in Italy, after 30 years on the run]

Described as a dangerous fugitive,

.

Italian police stated that they were beaten to death with a metal rod in a Calabrian fishmonger.

“Their bodies were missing and have never been found,” police stated.

He is also charged with attempted murder in another case.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that the fugitive

at an Italian pizzeria in France.

Police in Italy released a photo of him in a white coat in what appears to be a restaurant kitchen.

Edgardo Greco, convicted murderer linked to Italy's most powerful organized crime group, the 'ndrangheta.Carabinieri Cosenza / AP

Interpol, the international law enforcement agency that coordinated the case with French and Italian authorities, said Greco's crimes were related to the "mafia wars" of the early 1990s between organized crime gangs

and

in the Cosenza region of southern Italy.

He was held responsible for the two deaths during the so-called Maxi Trial, in which hundreds of mafia members were tried and convicted between 1986 and 1992.

The Public Prosecutor's Office in Catanzaro, in southern Italy, issued a European Arrest Warrant against Greco after he escaped from police custody in October 2006.

[The remains of a man who could have been murdered years ago by the mafia after discovering a secret are located in a volcano in Italy]

Thursday's arrest comes two weeks after Italian police arrested mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who also had ties to '

and was Italy's most wanted man for decades.

“As much as fugitives try to sneak off to a peaceful life abroad,

.

Dedicated agents from around the world will always ensure that justice is done,” said Matteo Piantedosi, Italian Interior Minister.

Serial murderer from Chalchuapa: accomplices of the ex-policeman are tried in El Salvador

Jan 24, 202300:38

“The capture of Edgardo Greco brings one of the worst Italian criminals to justice

and demonstrates, for the umpteenth time, the capacity and commitment of our police forces, which on this occasion have acted in collaboration with the French authorities”, added.

The operation was carried out as part of Interpol's I-CAN project, an Italian-funded initiative launched in 2020 to fight the '

criminal group and has helped apprehend dozens of fugitives around the world.

the world, according to Interpol.

[One of Italy's Most Wanted Killers Arrested Using Google Street View]

The '

has long been one of the main concerns of the Italian authorities.

, with global ties and strong ties to trafficking cocaine from South America to Europe.

Some 350 alleged members of this organization appeared before the court in Calabria, in southern Italy, in another mass trial in 2021.