Pizza Chef Arrested In France Turns Out To Be Italian Mafia Killer

An Italian mafia murderer who has been wanted since 2006 for an alleged attempted murder and is believed to be a member of one of the country's most powerful mafia organisations has been apprehended in France, according to Interpol officials.

Edgardo Greco, 63, was a convicted murderer linked to the mafia organisation 'Ndrangheta; he was held with strong support from the Interpol Cooperation Against the Ndrangheta (I-CAN) Project.

The "Ndrangheta," which has its roots in the Italian region of Calabria, is regarded as Italy's largest and most powerful mafia organisation. It operates on every continent and has close ties to the trafficking in cocaine bound for Europe from South America.

"He is a dangerous fugitive, he is wanted to serve a life sentence for the murders of Stefano and Giuseppe Bartolomeo, and accused of the attempted murder of Emiliano Mosciaro, all part of a 'mafia war' between the Pino Sena and Perna Pranno gangs that marked the early 1990s," Interpol has said in a statement.

The Bartolomeo brothers were beaten to death with iron bars in a fish warehouse, Italian police said.

"No matter how hard fugitives try to slip into a quiet life abroad, they cannot evade justice forever. Dedicated officers around the world will always ensure that justice is served," said Jurgen Stock, Interpol Secretary General.

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Interpol said he was arrested in the French city of Saint-Etienne, where he had at one point run an Italian restaurant under an alias, according to French prosecutors. 

Greco bought an Italian restaurant in Saint-Etienne called Caffe Rossini Ristorante in June 2021 and ran it until November 2021, according to French prosecutors.

According to documents seen by the news agency AFP, he used the fake name Paolo Dimitrio and also worked in other Italian restaurants in the city. Local press covered the Caffe Rossini Ristorante's opening in 2021, according to a still-active Facebook account for the restaurant, which now appears to have been closed down. "Paolo Dimitrio opens the restaurant of his dreams," said the headline in the article in the local Le Progres newspaper.

This is not the first mafia arrest in recent times. A few days ago, another fugitive Italian Mafia boss, Matteo Messina Denaro, who had been on the run for 30 years, was apprehended in southern Italy.

(With inputs from AFP)