Italian police arrested one of the most wanted criminals in Italy, Luigi Belvedere, accused of international drug trafficking after several years of fleeing in South America. Belvedere, 32, worked as an intermediary between the Italian mafia and drug traffickers from Colombia, being a key figure in organizing cocaine shipments from South America to Europe, reports British broadcaster BBC.
Italian authorities, along with the Colombian police and Europol, were able to trace him to the town of Medellín in Colombia, where he had been hiding for almost four years. He was identified through photographs in which he was spotted next to the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar.
The arrest of Belvedere followed after the issuance of his extradition in his absence in Italy nearly 19 years in prison for participating in a cocaine trafficking operation.
Belvedere was considered a key link between the Casales clan, one of the clans of the Camorra mafia, and cocaine producers from Colombia after his flight from Italy.
The town of Medellín, which was the base of the legendary drug band under the leadership of Escobar, was one of the largest centers of cocaine trafficking in the world in the 80s, representing about 80% of the global cocaine market at the peak of its activity.
