An Italian mafia boss on the run for 20 years was caught on January 5 through Google Maps, an Italian police official told Reuters.
Gioacchino Gammino, 61, was held following a two-year investigation. He was nabbed from Galapagar, Spain, where he had been residing with a fake identity. The street view of google maps showed a man resembling him, which led to a deeper investigation.
Gammino, a member of a Sicilian mafia group dubbed Stidda, had escaped Rome’s Rebibbia jail in 2003. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder committed several years ago.
Nicola Altiero, deputy director of the Italian anti-mafia police unit (DIA), said, “The photogram helped us to confirm the investigation we were developing in traditional ways,” She further added that Gammino is currently under custody in Spain and they hope to bring him back to Italy by the end of February.
The fugitive was first detained in Barcelona on charges of murder and drug trafficking in the late 1990s but mysteriously escaped from a prison in Rome in 2002. He is expected to be extradited to Italy next month.
Gammino was living as a greengrocer and cook in the Spanish town near Madrid. He was arrested after a two-year joint operation between Italian and Spanish authorities.
Gammino reportedly asked police, “How did you find me? I haven’t even phoned my family for 10 years.”
The fugitive was first detained in Barcelona on charges of murder and drug trafficking in the late 1990s.
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