News Trending

Marco Raduano, a notorious Italian mafia boss who successfully escaped from a high-security prison in Sardinia last year by ingeniously using bed sheets, has been recaptured in Corsica, France. Europol had listed Raduano among Europe’s most wanted criminals, and his capture represents a significant success for Italian and French authorities. The 40-year-old mafia leader was serving a lengthy 24-year sentence for his involvement in drug trafficking and other criminal activities.

The daring escape took place in February the previous year when Raduano scaled down the prison walls using knotted bed sheets. Footage of the escape showed him gripping the dangling sheets against the prison wall before swiftly descending to the ground and making a quick getaway. This escape had heightened concerns about the capabilities of organized crime figures to evade justice and raised questions about the effectiveness of high-security prison systems.

In a coordinated effort between Italian and French authorities, Raduano was arrested in Aleria, Corsica, where he was found dining in a restaurant with a young woman. The successful capture was a blow to the Foggia crime syndicate, of which Raduano is considered a prominent figure. Often referred to as Italy’s fourth mafia, the Foggia syndicate operates in the shadows alongside more widely recognized criminal organizations in Sicily, Calabria, and Naples.

Alongside Raduano’s arrest, his close associate Gianluigi Troiano was also detained near Granada in southern Spain. The capture of these two dangerous fugitives has been hailed by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi as another major setback for organized crime. The collaboration between law enforcement agencies across borders highlights the ongoing efforts to tackle and dismantle criminal networks that operate on an international scale.

Picture Courtesy: Google/images are subject to copyright

News Trending

Austrian sex offender Josef Fritzl, notorious for imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering seven children with her, may be relocated from a high-security prison, as reported by local media. Now 88 and diagnosed with dementia, a recent psychiatric evaluation suggests that he no longer poses a threat to the public. This development opens the possibility for a court to decide whether he should be moved to a standard prison.

Fritzl is currently held in a high-security institution for mentally disturbed offenders, situated in Stein Prison in the town of Krems an der Donau. Having been sentenced to life in 2009, he becomes eligible for parole this year under Austrian law, which allows those with life sentences to apply for conditional release after serving 15 years. Legal experts speculate that conditional release or placement in a care home are potential outcomes for Fritzl, who has also changed his name.

Despite a regional court’s 2022 ruling that Fritzl was “no longer a danger” and could be transferred to a regular jail, the Higher Regional Court in Vienna had previously blocked a similar decision. The Fritzl case, which came to light in 2008 in Amstetten, is considered one of Austria’s most heinous criminal incidents. Fritzl was convicted of charges including murder, rape, incest, and enslavement of his daughter. In response to the traumatic events, Fritzl’s daughter and her children have assumed new identities for their protection.

Picture Courtesy: Google/images are subject to copyright