Italian mafia refugee caught after two decades on the run … after being spotted on GOOGLE STREET VIEW in Spain
- Gioacchino Gammino was sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder in 1989 in Italy
- He escaped prison in 2002 and fled to Spain, where he changed his name
- He opened a restaurant serving “Sicilian dinner” with a godfather-themed menu
An Italian mafia refugee was caught after 20 years on the run after detectives discovered him on Google Maps in Spain.
Gioacchino Gammino, one of Italy’s most wanted gangsters convicted of murder, escaped from a prison in Rome in 2002 and lived under the radar in Galapagar, a city north of Madrid.
The 60-year-old had changed his name, worked as a cook and opened a fruit and vegetable shop.
An Italian mafia refugee was caught after 20 years on the run after detectives discovered him on Google Maps in Spain (picture to the right of his grocery store).
But Italian police approached him and had a breakthrough when they accidentally spotted him on Google Street View outside a grocery store called El Huerto de Manu, Manu’s garden.
Gammino had now changed his name to Manuel.
Nearby, they found an entry for a restaurant called Cocina de Manu that had been closed for some time.
But the Facebook page was still online, showing Gammino posing in his chef’s whites, and the menu featured a Sicilian dinner special, with a design that echoes the iconic black and white poster for the film The Godfather resembled.
Gioacchino Gammino will now return to prison in Italy
But instead of the puppeteer holding the strings behind Don Corleone, two hands were holding a fork and a spoon with spaghetti dangling from it.
The picture of the mafioso on Facebook could be recognized by detectives by a striking scar on the chin.
Arrested on December 17th, amazed at how the police tracked him down, he said, “How did you find me? I haven’t even spoken to my family on the phone in the past 10 years. ‘
Gammino is now being returned to an Italian prison where he will be awaiting life imprisonment for murder.
He has a litany of crimes on his indictment, including drug trafficking and Mafia association.
He was part of the Stidda clan from Agrigento, who had a bitter feud with the rival Cosa Nostra in Sicily.
The gangster was first arrested in 1984 and investigated by the renowned anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone.
Spotted on Google Street View, Gammino escaped from a prison in Rome in 2002 and lived under the radar in Galapagar, a city north of Madrid
The 60-year-old had changed his name, worked as a cook and opened a fruit and vegetable shop
Arrested on December 17th, amazed at how the police tracked him down, he said, “How did you find me? I haven’t even spoken to my family on the phone in the past 10 years.
Gammino was later found guilty of murdering a passerby in Campobello di Licata after mistaking him for a Mafioso in 1989.
After being charged, he fled and was arrested in Barcelona in 1998.
He was extradited back to Italy and sent to prison, but managed a daring escape in 2002.
A movie was being made in Rebibbia Prison at the time and he managed to escape after being mistaken for a relative of a prisoner.
Some believe that an undercover uniformed mafia member may have contributed to his escape.
His arrest was the culmination of a two-year joint operation led by detectives in Rome and Sicily.
