Former Camorra Mafia Major Criminal Fugitive for 11 Years
Captured by Police After Being Photographed Celebrating Napoli's Victory...
An Italian mafia member who had been on the run for 11 years was arrested by the police. He was caught after being photographed while celebrating the victory of his hometown football team SSC Napoli (hereafter Napoli). The Italian military police revealed this and said, "His passion for football and Napoli betrayed him."
AP News reported on the 5th (local time) that Vincenzo La Porta, who is listed among Italy's "100 most dangerous wanted criminals," was arrested by the Carabinieri military police based in Napoli.
La Porta is known to have close ties with the notorious mafia 'Camorra,' which is based in Napoli. He had been living as a fugitive after being convicted of organized crime, fraud, and tax evasion.
Italian judicial authorities had been making every effort to capture La Porta but had not found any leads for 11 years.
Napoli, where Kim Min-jae (currently at Bayern Munich) played, won the league title for the first time in 33 years since 1990. [Image source=Yonhap News]
At the time of his arrest, La Porta was working as a kitchen assistant at an Italian restaurant on the Greek island of Corfu, and no one realized that he was a wanted major criminal.
Ultimately, what gave La Porta away was his distinctive Italian love for football.
On May 5th, Napoli won the Serie A championship, the top division in Italian football. It was their first Scudetto (the term used in Italy to denote a sports championship) in 33 years since the 1989-90 season, when the "football genius" Diego Maradona led them to victory. Moreover, very few had predicted Napoli's success before the season started, which made the fans' joy even greater.
Napoli was in a festive mood, and citizens poured out into the streets to celebrate. La Porta, unable to contain his joy, waved a sky-blue scarf, the symbol of Napoli, from the restaurant balcony, and this moment was accidentally captured on people's mobile phone cameras.
The photo posted on social networking services (SNS) was also detected by the Italian judicial authorities' surveillance network. Eventually, La Porta was arrested on the 4th while riding a scooter during a joint operation by the Italian military police and Greek police.
Local media reported, "At the time of his arrest, La Porta was leisurely enjoying the scenery of Corfu Island." La Porta, who has been sentenced to 14 years and 4 months in prison in Italy, is currently detained by the Greek police and is refusing extradition to his home country.
La Porta's lawyer claimed, "La Porta has started a new life with a new family in Greece. He has a young son and a heart condition. If he is extradited, his family will be destroyed."
Meanwhile, Napoli, a football club representing southern Italy, is famous among Napoli citizens as a symbol standing against the relatively wealthy northern regions. Paolo Cimino, a Napoli fan, said in a BBC interview immediately after the victory, "Football brought victory to the people of the south who had been oppressed by the north."
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