Italian police have arrested Roberto Mazzarella, a fugitive mafia boss and one of Italy's most wanted criminals, at a luxury villa on the Amalfi Coast. The 48-year-old head of the Mazzarella clan of the Camorra had been on the run for over a year before his capture on Friday night.
Mazzarella was arrested without resistance in Vietri sul Mare, near Salerno, where he was staying with his wife and two children at a villa costing €1,000 per night. He was fourth on the interior ministry's list of most dangerous fugitives, wanted for the 2000 murder of Antonio Maione in San Giovanni a Teduccio.
The operation involved the Carabinieri, Italian air force, and coastguard. Police seized €20,000 in cash, three luxury watches, mobile phones, and forged identity documents. The Mazzarella clan controls smuggling and drug trafficking in Naples, along with counterfeiting and money laundering.
Naples prefect Michele di Bari called the arrest “an investigative success,” stating it “brings to justice an individual of high criminal danger and restores to citizens a profound sense of security and legality.” Antimafia commission president Chiara Colosimo expressed “enormous satisfaction,” while European Parliament vice-president Pina Picierno hailed it as a “great victory for the state.”
