Italian mafia fugitive is caught after two decades on the run… after he is spotted on GOOGLE STREET VIEW in Spain
- Gioacchino Gammino had been given a life sentence for a 1989 murder in Italy
- He escaped prison in 2002 and fled to Spain where he changed his name
- He opened a restaurant serving ‘Sicilian supper’ with Godfather-themed menu
An Italian mafia fugitive has been caught after 20 years on the run after detectives spotted him on Google Maps in Spain.
Gioacchino Gammino, one of Italy’s most wanted mobsters who has been convicted of murder, fled from a prison in Rome in 2002 and was living under the radar in Galapagar, a town north of Madrid.
The 60-year-old had changed his name, worked as a chef and opened a fruit and vegetable shop.
An Italian mafia fugitive has been caught after 20 years on the run after detectives spotted him on Google Maps in Spain (pictured right, by his grocery store)
But Italian police were closing in on him and had a breakthrough when they spotted him by chance on Google Street View standing outside a grocery shop named El Huerto de Manu, Manu’s Garden.
Gammino had since changed his name to Manuel.
Nearby, they found a listing for a restaurant named Cocina de Manu which had been closed for some time.
But its Facebook page was still visible online, showing Gammino posing in his chef’s whites, and the menu had a specialty of Sicilian supper, with a design similar to the icon black and white poster for The Godfather film.
Gioacchino Gammino will now return to prison in Italy
But instead of the puppeteer holding the strings behind Don Corleone, a pair of hands were holding a fork and spoon with spaghetti dangling down.
The mafioso’s picture on Facebook was recognisable to detectives thanks to a distinctive scar on his chin.
He was arrested on December 17 and was baffled at how police tracked him down, saying after his capture: ‘How did you find me? I haven’t even phoned my family for the last 10 years.’
Gammino will now be returned to an Italian jail where he will see out his life sentence for murder.
He has a litany of crimes on his charge sheet including drug trafficking and mafia association.
He was part of the Stidda clan from Agrigento which had a bitter feud with the rival Cosa Nostra in Sicily.
The mobster was first arrested in 1984 and was probed by the renowned anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone.
He was arrested on December 17 and was baffled at how police tracked him down, saying after his capture: ‘How did you find me? I haven’t even phoned my family for the last 10 years’
Gammino was later found guilty of murdering a passerby in Campobello di Licata after mistaking him for a mafioso in 1989.
After he was charged, he went on the run and was arrested in Barcelona in 1998.
He was extradited back to Italy and sent to prison but pulled off a daring escape in 2002.
A film was being shot in the Rebibbia prison at the time and he managed to walk out to his freedom after he was confused for a prisoner’s relative.
Some believe an undercover mafia member in uniform may have helped his escape.
His arrest was the culmination of a two-year joint operation led by detectives in Rome and Sicily.
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