A mafia fugitive was arrested in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, after Italian police discovered his YouTube cooking show.
The Italian gangster had concealed his face from the camera’s view while appearing on the YouTube cooking show with his wife, but had failed to hide his tattoos, which made him identifiable to police, according to a report by La Repubblica.
Marc Feren Claude Biart — a Roman-born drug trafficker — had been in hiding for five years, “but his tattoos and love for cooking betrayed him,” the Italian news outlet reports.
Biart is allegedly connected to the Cacciola clan of the ‘Ndrangheta in Rosarno, Italy — a prominent Italian mafia-style organized crime group based in the southern region of Calabria, which forms the tip of Italy’s “boot.”
The ‘Ndrangheta is considered to be one of the world’s most powerful crime syndicates because of its control of most of the cocaine that enters Europe, reports the Guardian.
‘Ndrangheta has also expanded its reach across all parts of the world, and is considered far more powerful than Sicily’s famous “Cosa Nostra” mafia organization.
The gangster had taken refuge in Boca Chica, a tourist resort near Santo Domingo, where he was careful not to attract attention to himself. He also avoided the local Italian community.
But after starting a cooking show with his wife on YouTube, and inadvertently tipping police off by seeming to forget to conceal his tattoos on his arms, Biart was caught.
Biart was identified by the “Interpol Cooperation Against ‘Ndrangheta,” which is made up of State Police, the Carabinieri, and the Guardia di Finanza — Italy’s three main law enforcement agencies — with the help of the Interpol of the Dominican Republic, as well as an Italian security expert in Santo Domingo.
Another ‘Ndrangheta mobster, Francesco Pelle — who was considered one of the most dangerous Italian fugitives — was arrested in Portugal on Monday, after being on the run for 14 years, reports the Guardian.
Pelle was tracked down at a clinic in Lisbon, where he had been receiving treatment for the Chinese coronavirus.
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