One of the world's most wanted mafia bosses arrested after 20 years on the run

One of Italy's most wanted mafia bosses, Ernesto Fazzalari, the second-in-command of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia, was arrested on Sunday after 20 years on the run, Italian authorities announced, as reported by the Patria news agency.

Ernesto Fazzalari (46), who had already been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment, was arrested early in the morning in a remote region of Calabria, the cradle of the 'Ndrangheta criminal organization, a major rival of Sicily's Cosa Nostra and Naples' Camorra.

Fazzalari, a lieutenant of superboss Matteo Messina Denaro, had been on the run since 1996, and three years later was convicted of mafia association, kidnapping, weapons possession, and a double murder in a clan feud in which 32 people were killed in his hometown of Taurianova between 1989 and 1991.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi thanked judges and law enforcement on the social network Twitter for the arrest, while Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said of Fazzalari that he was one of the most important fugitives and concluded that one cannot escape justice. (Index)