VIBO VALENTIA - Police arrested 37-year-old fugitive Domenico Crea - head of the mafia clan of Rizziconi - in a Friday morning raid in the town of Santa Domenica di Racadi in southern Italy, police sources said.

 Connected and related to the powerful Alvaro family of Sinopoli, Crea had previously been imposed 15 years in prison for various offences including Mafia association and extortion. He had subsequently been hit by numerous restrictive measures for Mafia association and extortion and was definitively sentenced last April 4, to 21 years in prison.

 Police had been hunting the fugitive for three years, keeping a close eye on relatives and associates, convinced - precisely because of the role he assumed within the family - that he had never strayed too far from home.   

 The turning point in the investigation came in the last few days, while police were monitoring his wife, following her to the small tourist centre in the Vibo Valentia area, where she had gone on vacation with her two young daughters. It was in the cottage the woman had rented, that the fugitive surfaced.

 When they were certain it was really Crea, agents surrounded the house and moved in, surprising the fugitive in his sleep. With no chance to escape, he surrendered and was handcuffed without a struggle.

 Agents sifted through the building finding 5,000 euros in cash along with new clothes.

 Now investigators are verifying the position of the couple who own the building that had been made available to the Mafia boss.

 “Police and Carabinieri go big against the ‘Ndrangheta, arrested the last major fugitive left in Calabria and seven other criminals for extortion through arson, threats and violence: the day begins very well,” Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said.

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