Mafia boss in brazen escape

ITALIAN mafia boss Rocco Morabito (right) on Monday led a brazen jailbreak in the centre of Uruguay’s capital, setting off a giant manhunt and infuriating the Italian government, which was awaiting his extradition.

Morabito and three other inmates “escaped through a hole in the roof” of a police detention centre in downtown Montevideo late on Sunday, before breaking into a neighbouring apartment and exiting on to the street, Uruguay’s interior ministry said.

In a statement, it said the 52-year-old Morabito – a top ’Ndrangheta figure arrested in Uruguay in 2017 after decades on the run – was awaiting extradition for “international drug trafficking”. Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini reacted angrily to the “disconcerting and serious” news.

“I make two commitments, first to shed full light on how he escaped, asking for an immediate explanation from the Montevideo government. Then we will continue the hunt for Morabito, wherever he is,” Mr Salvini said.

Elida Ituarte, a 70-year-old woman who lives in a fifthfloor apartment next to the jail, said she was startled to see four men in her living room at midnight on Sunday.

“What are you doing? Who are you?” she said she shouted.

The oldest of the four, apparently Morabito, told her the caretaker had called them to fix a leaking pipe, a shaken Ms Ituarte said.

She said the four men had evidently jumped on to her balcony from the wall of the jail, topped with razor wire. On Monday, the razor wire showed signs of being clipped in several places.

“I left the window open. As I live next to the prison, I felt safe and secure,” she said.

When Ms Ituarte found the keys to let them out, the four men ran down the stairs and on to the street.

The jail is known as Montevideo’s Central Prison, and is located on a busy street surrounded by apartments, restaurants and shops.

Relatives of other inmates were refused access on Monday as visits were cancelled in the wake of the escape.

Morabito – dubbed “the king of cocaine” – was one of Italy’s most-wanted men when he was arrested in a Montevideo hotel in September 2017.

He had been on the run for 23 years before his arrest.