Fugitive Italian mafia boss wanted for murder arrested at luxury villa on the Amalfi coast

An Italian mafia boss accused of a murder a quarter century ago has been arrested at a luxury villa on the Amalfi Coast, Italian police said this weekend.

Roberto Mazzarella, head of the Mazzarella clan of the Camorra, the Naples-based organized crime group, was one of Italy’s most dangerous fugitives, according to Italy’s interior ministry. Mazzarella was sought for aggravated homicide linked to “a criminal association of a mafia type,” according to his wanted poster.

Mazzarella “did not resist arrest” during a raid in the town of Vietri sul Mare, police said in a statement. He was with his wife and two children at the time. Video released by police of the raid showed heavily armed officers in the seaside villa. A patrol boat was deployed during the operation.

The 48-year-old had been on the run since Jan. 28, 2025, when he was due to have been arrested on murder charges, the statement said.

Mazzarella is wanted in connection with a 2000 fatal shooting at a delicatessen in central Naples.

Police said they found 20,000 euros ($23,000) in cash and three luxury watches during the raid.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni congratulated the police late Saturday for the arrest.

“This sends a clear message that the state will not back down,” Meloni said in an online post.

Chiara Colosimo, the president of the Anti-Mafia Commission, echoed that sentiment with a post on X: “I am very pleased with the brilliant operation that was carried out.” 

The Mazzarella clan is famed for its involvement in counterfeiting in Naples, which has long been associated with banknote forgery, and police have targeted the Neapolitan mafia in recent months. Police last month detained 16 people allegedly linked to the Mazzarella clan on cyber fraud charges.

Last year, Spanish police arrested three suspected Camorra mafia members wanted in Italy for crimes including attempted murder, weapons trafficking and money laundering. Police said the suspects were “one of the heads of a dangerous family clan” of the Neapolitan Camorra, his son, and his son-in-law, without naming the three.

In October 2024, police in Colombia arrested Luigi Belvedere, a fugitive accused of being the intermediary between the Latin American country’s drug cartels and the Neapolitan mafia. Police released a photo of Belvedere visiting the grave of Pablo Escobar, the founder and boss of the Medellin cartel, who was killed by police in 1993.