A notorious ‘Ndrangheta mafia boss has been arrested in Madrid after two years as a fugitive, police said on Thursday.
The 60-year-old was named by Italian police as Domenico Paviglianiti, dubbed “the boss of bosses” for his role in the Calabria-based clan in the 1980s and 1990s.
The ‘Nrangheta is one of the world’s biggest and wealthiest criminal gangs and has a global presence.
Paviglianiti was first arrested in Spain in 1996 and extradited to Italy, where he began serving a life sentence for crimes including murder and drug trafficking.
But a miscalculation in his sentencing led to him being released early in October 2019, after which he fled back to Spain. In January this year, the Bologna Public Prosecutor’s Office issued him in absentia with a further, concurrent sentence of 11 years, eight months and 15 days in prison.
In a joint operation by the Italian carabinieri and Spanish police, Paviglianiti was tracked down and arrested on the streets of Madrid.
Officers also seized six mobile phones, nearly €6,000 (£5,000) in cash and fake Portuguese documentation the former crime boss was carrying on him.