Marco Raduano: Italian mafia boss who fled from prison

Raduano was serving 24-year prison sentence for crimes including involvement in criminal organisation, drug trafficking

This handout photograph released by the Italian Carabinieri press office on February 2, 2024, shows the arrest of Italian mafia boss Marco Raduano, in Bastia, Corsica. — AFP

atOptions = { 'key' : 'bea791c573f7aa80c9588ff83ca33bed', 'format' : 'iframe', 'height' : 600, 'width' : 160, 'params' : {} }; document.write('');

">

Italian mafia boss Marco Raduano labelled as "dangerous" on Europol's list of most wanted criminals is the head of the Gargano clan, operating within the "fifth mafia," a relatively unknown criminal syndicate based in Foggia, a southern province in Italy’s Puglia, The Guardian reported.

He was serving a 24-year prison sentence for various crimes, including involvement in a criminal organisation, drug trafficking, and illegal weapons possession.

Europol said that he was the top figure in the group and a ruthless killer, responsible for carrying out murders, drug trafficking, and extortion.

In February 2023, Raduano fled from prison in Nuoro, Sardinia, using bedsheets. He had used knotted bedsheets to climb down the walls of the prison's high-security wing; the act was also caught on camera.

Raduano has now been arrested from the French island of Corsica while he was dining at a restaurant with a young woman. 

According to Daily Mail, he had been living there using false papers, and a falsely registered stolen vehicle.

Raduano's escape caused great embarrassment to the Italian authorities and demonstrated the might of the fifth mafia, which is currently regarded as the country's most ruthless organised criminal group.

In September 2021, another member of the gang escaped his house arrest and was later found near Granada.