Mafia fugitive caught ‘red-sauce-handed’ after posting YouTube cooking videos
A MAFIA fugitive has been caught in his Caribbean hideaway — after being spotted in YouTube cooking videos he made with his wife, Italian police said Monday.
Marc Feren Claude Biart, 53, had been on the run since 2014, when Italian prosecutors ordered his arrest for alleged cocaine trafficking for the Cacciola clan of the ‘Ndrangheta Mafia, Agence France-Presse said.
He managed to lead a quiet life in Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic — until he showed off his Italian cooking skills on a YouTube channel, police said, according to the news agency.
While Biart attempted to hide his face, he was betrayed by distinctive tattoos on his body, the agency said, without elaborating on their distinctive features.
The video was part of a cooking channel he set up with his wife, according to Calabria News. He had otherwise lived like a “ghost” among the large Italian community in Boca Chica, with locals just knowing him as “Marc,” the outlet said.
Biart was shown being escorted by Interpol to a jet that took him to Milan, where he was arrested as soon as he landed, according to the report. His bust was a key development for the specialist operation dubbed I-CAN, for Interpol Cooperation Against ‘Ndrangheta.
The ‘Ndrangheta is considered one of the world’s most powerful crime syndicates due to its control of most of the cocaine entering Europe, AFP said.
It has extended its reach across all parts of the world, and it has long surpassed Sicily’s Cosa Nostra as Italy’s biggest Mafia organisation.