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Fugitive mafia boss wanted for murder arrested at Amalfi coast luxury villa

Roberto Mazzarella, head of a notorious Camorra clan, had been on the run for more than a year An Italian mafia boss, who was one of Italy’s most dangerous fugitives, has been arrested on murder charges after more than a year on the run, Italian police said on Saturday. Roberto Mazzarella was the head of the notorious Mazzarella clan of the Camorra – the Naples-based organised crime gang. Mazzarella was arrested on Friday night at a luxury €1,000-a-night villa on the Amalfi Coast, where he was with his wife and two children. He “did not resist arrest” during a raid in the town of Vietri sul Mare in Salerno, police said in a statement. Mazzarella was fourth on the interior ministry’s list of the most dangerous fugitives. The 48-year-old had been on the run since 28 January 2025 when he was due to be arrested on murder charges for the killing of Antonio Maione in 2000 in San Giovanni a Teduccio. Maione’s brother Ivan confessed to the killing of Mazzarella’s father, Salvatore, in 1995. Video released by police of the raid showed heavily armed officers in the seaside villa. The operation involved the Carabinieri investigative unit (Italy’s national military police), the Italian air force, and the Salerno coastguard patrol boat monitoring the surrounding waters. Police said they found €20,000 in cash and three luxury watches during the raid, along with mobile phones and forged identity documents. The Mazzarella family controls much of the smuggling and drug trafficking in Naples, as well as being involved in counterfeiting, and the laundering of proceeds via Milan and northern Italy. The arrest was welcomed by lawmakers. In a statement the Naples prefect, Michele di Bari, called the operation “an investigative success”. He added: “The result of tireless fieldwork and the extraordinary professionalism of the judiciary and the carabinieri, which strongly reaffirms the presence of the state in the territory. “This result brings to justice an individual of high criminal danger and restores to citizens a profound sense of security and legality.” The president of the antimafia commission, Chiara Colosimo, wrote on X: ‘‘I express enormous satisfaction for the brilliant operation carried out.’’ Pina Picierno, the vice-president of the European parliament, said it was a “great victory for the state and a clear signal in the fight against mafias”.