Madrid, June 30, (dpa/GNA) – Spanish police have arrested a man, believed to be an Italian mafia boss within the powerful ‘Ndrangheta criminal organization based in Calabria, authorities said.
Italian prosecutors in Calabria have identified him as Domenico Paviglianiti, also known as “Don Mico,” who has been wanted under a European arrest warrant since 2022. The suspect was detained in Soria, about 200 kilometres north-east of Madrid, the Spanish National Police announced on Sunday evening.
The arrest followed months of joint investigations between Spanish and Italian authorities, police said. In Italy, he is accused of multiple offences, including violent crimes, drug trafficking and money laundering, according to the Spanish National Police. He faces a 19-year prison sentence.
A video posted by the Spanish police on X, shows the suspect being taken away in handcuffs without resistance. Extradition proceedings to Italy are expected to begin in the coming days so he can serve his sentence, the Calabria prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
Spanish media reported that the 65-year-old is one of Italy’s most-wanted fugitives, and has been arrested in Spain multiple times. He was first detained in 1996 and extradited to Italy in 1999, later serving around 20 years in prison before being released, due to a sentencing miscalculation, according to the newspapers El Mundo and El País.
He was arrested again in Madrid in 2021, but was later released after his sentence had expired. According to El Mundo, he had been living a quiet life in Soria, a town of about 40,000 residents, under the protection of a bodyguard.
The ‘Ndrangheta is considered one of the world’s most powerful mafia organizations, and was the focus of a bloody clan war in the 1980s and early 1990s that left about 700 people dead.
GNA