ROME – One of Italy's most-wanted mobsters was arrested while dining at a restaurant in northeastern Spain, officials said Sunday.
Patrizio Bosti was arrested late Saturday while he was having dinner with a group of 15 Italians and Spaniards in Girona, according to Italian and Spanish police who captured him in a joint operation.
Bosti, 49, was on Italy's list of 30 most-wanted criminals and had been on the run since 2005.
Bosti was convicted of heading a clan of the Naples-based Camorra crime syndicate and sentenced in absentia to 23 years in prison for the murder of two rival mobsters during a feud in 1984.
Bosti was spotted when he took a flight from Naples to Barcelona a week ago and traced to nearby Girona, where he was spending some time in a luxurious villa, police said.
The convicted mobster tried showing police a fake ID but quickly surrendered when he realized he had been recognized, said Cesare Nalli, a Carabinieri paramilitary police official in Naples. He was not armed but police found he was carrying more than $30,000 in euro500 bills, Nalli said.
Spanish police said Bosti will appear before judges in Madrid within 72 hours. Italian authorities expect him to be extradited over the coming days.
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