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A few days ago, French authorities arrested a 63-year-old pizzeria owner in Saint Ettiene after discovering that he was a former member of the dangerous Calabrian Ndrangheta organisation. Edgardo Greco, now known as Paolo Dimitrio, had been wanted since 2006. He was listed as a “super fugitive” from Italy because of his links to the feared Calabrian mafia.
For the past three years, the alleged offender has been running a pizzeria in Saint Ettiene, the town where he currently lives. In fact, the French newspaper Le Progres dedicated an article to him in 2021 on the occasion of the opening of the establishment. There he spoke about his business, Caffé Rossini Ristorante, a place where he served fresh and homemade Italian products of high quality, and whose speciality was pasta cooked on a parmesan cheese wheel.
Although the police operation against the Calabrian mafia was launched in 2020, the authorities kept it completely secret. Thanks to the images published by the French newspaper, as well as other police investigations, they managed to find Greco’s whereabouts. Just a month earlier, the head of the Cosa Nostra, Matteo Messina Denaro, had also been arrested in Italy after being hunted for more than 30 years.
The pizzaiolo had been on the run since 2006
Edgardo Greco had ‘rebuilt’ his life between the cookers of a pizzeria, but he had been accused of double murder since 1991 and was on the run in 2006, after a judge of first instance issued a warrant for his arrest. In 2014, another European arrest warrant was unveiled, which complemented the proceedings. At that time, he was already Paolo and residing in Saint Ettiene.
Apparently, before running the Caffé Rossini, Greco had already worked in the hotel business in his youth. Now it was the best way for him to try to get back to normality and keep a low profile. But he did not tie up the loose ends properly and his appearance in the French media led the Carabinieri to track him down.