Only two weeks have passed since the shocking capture of Sicilian Cosa Nostra supremo Matteo Messina Denaro at a medical facility in Palermo, Sicily, by anti-Mafia police in Italy.
This time, it was Edgardo Greco, 63, who was detained in Saint-Etienne, France, where he was employed as a pizzaiolo (or pizza chef) at the Caffe Rossini Italian restaurant, using the alias Paolo Dimitrio.
Greco, a member of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, was found guilty of the double murder of Stefano and Giuseppe Bartolomeo in absentia in 1991. According to court records, he is accused of killing the brothers with iron bars and then dissolving their bodies in acid. Since his conviction, he had eluded Italian law enforcement officers.
Greco was also found guilty of the attempted murder of many prison guards, earning him the moniker “prison killer.” Nicola Gratteri, the anti-Mafia prosecutor who oversaw the case as head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Catanzaro, Calabria, described Greco as a “dangerous fugitive.”
Matteo Messina Denaro was detained in a Palermo private medical facility.
Gratteri began pursuing Greco when he was mentioned in an article in the French journal Le Progres that the restaurant posted on its official Facebook page, the prosecutor’s office confirmed to CNN. Mafia lord Matteo Messina Denaro, Italy’s most wanted criminal, was captured in Sicily.
Additionally, according to the police in Calabria, he frequently commented on social media under a phony name. When CNN called the restaurant’s phone number on Friday, the line was busy.
According to CNN, Mafia bosses frequently yearn for publicity. This is according to journalist and novelist Roberto Saviano, who has been living under police protection ever since his book “Gomorrah” was published in 2006. “It’s common. Consider El Chapo, who wished to meet Sean Penn so that he could have a movie about him made while he was employed. And Al Capone wanted to visit the “Scarface” set, ” Saviano said in an interview with CNN last week.
According to Italian anti-Mafia police, there are still four major mafiosi hiding out and a number of smaller gang members on the run. The top four are listed on the Italian government’s anti-Mafia website. Pasquale Bonavota, 48, is wanted for Mafia crimes connected to the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta and has been on the run since 2018. A 64-year-old member of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Giovanni Motisi has been on the lam since 1998, when he was found guilty in Sicily of murder and Mafia affiliation. Attilio Cubeddu, 75, has been on the run since 1997 after being found guilty of numerous kidnapping charges and is regarded as one of Italy’s most dangerous fugitives. Renato Cinquegranella, 73, of the Neapolitan Camorra, has been missing since 2002 after being found guilty of murder, charges involving weapons, and extortion.
The anti-Mafia unit in Italy claimed to be working around the clock to track down those who are still at large. They are doing this by arresting people who are a part of their protective networks, freezing bank accounts and other assets, and even searching social media for mistakes like the one Greco made that exposed his cover.