Top mafia fugitive found hiding in secret room in his own house

Antonio Pelle, who escaped from hospital in 2011, is found at home in a hideout built between the bathroom and his son’s bedroom

5 October 2016, 5:04pm

1 min read

Antonio Pelle escorted by officers of the Polizia di Stato

Italian police have arrested a top mafia boss who escaped from a hospital in 2011, finding him in a hideout built between the bathroom and his son’s bedroom at his home.

Antonio Pelle was on the interior ministry’s list of most dangerous mafia fugitives.

He was serving a 20-year prison sentence for mafia association and arms and drug trafficking when he slipped away from hospital in the town of Locri, in Reggio Calabria.

Pelle is considered the head of the Pelle-Vottari clan, which is active in the Calabrian town of San Luca.

L'arresto del #latitante Antonio Pelle da parte #SquadraMobile Reggio Calabria con #SCO Servizio Centrale Operativo https://t.co/xHjgGzWKsi pic.twitter.com/CCPU4liIdK
— Polizia di Stato (@poliziadistato) October 5, 2016

It has been fighting the Nirta-Strangio clan, which drew international attention to Calabria’s ’Ndrangheta mob in 2007 when one of its feuds left six dead in an Italian restaurant in Duisburg, Germany.