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Italian mafia boss who escaped from prison using bed sheets recaptured in France

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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.

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Famed Italian Mafia Boss Messina Denaro Passes Away

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Italian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who had been one of Italy’s most sought-after fugitives until his capture earlier this year, has passed away.

Denaro, aged 61, was believed to be a prominent figure in the notorious Cosa Nostra Mafia and spent three decades evading authorities before his arrest in January. He had been undergoing cancer treatment at the time and had been transferred from prison to a hospital a month prior to his demise.

Denaro was implicated in numerous murders and had received a life sentence in absentia in 2002 for his involvement in the killings of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. He had openly boasted about his ability to “fill a cemetery” with his victims. In addition to these crimes, he oversaw various illegal activities such as racketeering, illegal waste disposal, money laundering, and drug trafficking on behalf of the Cosa Nostra.

Despite being on the run since 1993, Denaro was believed to have continued giving orders to his subordinates from undisclosed locations.

Reports from local media indicate that he slipped into an irreversible coma on Friday while being treated at a hospital in L’Aquila, central Italy, and had requested no aggressive medical intervention. Denaro had previously undergone surgery related to his cancer but had not shown signs of recovery after the most recent operation.

L’Aquila Mayor Pierluigi Biondi confirmed Denaro’s death, describing it as “the conclusion of a life lived without remorse or regret—a painful chapter in recent history that cannot be erased.”

Apart from his criminal activities, Denaro was considered Cosa Nostra’s last “secret-keeper,” as many informants and prosecutors believed he held crucial information and the identities of individuals involved in several high-profile Mafia crimes.

His arrest in January involved over 100 members of the armed forces and occurred at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily, where he was receiving chemotherapy. For years, Denaro had symbolized the state’s struggles in apprehending the top echelons of organized crime groups.

Italian investigators had come close to capturing him by monitoring his close associates, resulting in the 2013 arrest of his sister, Patrizia, and several of his associates. Authorities had also seized valuable businesses linked to him, leaving him increasingly isolated.

However, due to the scarcity of photographs, police had to rely on digital reconstructions to depict his appearance in the years following his fugitive status, and a recording of his voice was only released in 2021.

In September 2021, a Formula 1 fan from Liverpool was arrested at gunpoint in a restaurant in the Netherlands, mistakenly believed to be Denaro.

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Enhanced Security Measures Surrounding Rédoine Faïd’s Trial: The Notorious French ‘Jailbreak King’

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One of France’s most infamous criminals is currently on trial in Paris, with extensive security measures in place, for his daring escape from prison using a helicopter five years ago.

Due to Rédoine Faïd’s notoriety for prison breaks, French authorities have deployed a specialized gendarme unit to prevent any attempt to flee while traveling to and from the courtroom.

Reports indicate that there is a significant risk of another escape plot, as per police warnings.

Faïd, aged 51, stands accused alongside 11 other individuals, including his two older brothers.

Court accounts state that he arrived at the courthouse under tight police escort, followed by his brother Rachid, who is suspected of orchestrating the prison break.

At the time of his dramatic escape, Faïd was already serving a sentence for a previous jailbreak in 2013.

The escape involved two accomplices who held a helicopter pilot hostage and landed in the courtyard of Réau Prison, located south of Paris, on July 1, 2018. They used smoke bombs and angle grinders to access a nearby visiting room where Faïd was meeting his brother Brahim.

A prison guard described the two men, dressed as commandos, carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, and how he and his colleagues were unable to respond to the attack. The helicopter, an Alouette II, quickly departed, and the entire operation took just minutes.

Faïd was eventually recaptured three months later during a raid on an apartment in his hometown of Creil.

His criminal career began with armed robberies and extortion in the crime-ridden suburbs of Paris during the 1990s. He later authored a book in which he detailed how the Hollywood film Heat influenced his attack on a security van in the 1990s, garnering him some degree of celebrity as he appeared on TV to promote the book.

After a brief release from one jail sentence in 2010, he was rearrested for violating the terms of his release. He subsequently received a lengthy prison term for masterminding a robbery in 2010, which resulted in the death of 26-year-old policewoman Aurélie Fouquet.

In 2013, he took four prison guards hostage and used explosions to break through five prison doors, making a dramatic escape from a jail near Lille in northern France. All four guards were eventually released, but Faïd remained on the run for six weeks before being recaptured and returned to prison.

Over the next seven weeks, Faïd’s trial will take place in a high-security courtroom on the Île de la Cité in Paris. He faces charges related to hijacking an aircraft and multiple prison escapes as part of an organized criminal group.

French media have reported on a confidential police alert highlighting a “significant risk of an escape attempt.”

However, Faïd’s legal team has protested against his solitary confinement at Fleury-Mérogis prison south of Paris, arguing that while his jailbreak was spectacular, it wasn’t inherently dangerous. One of his lawyers, Marie Violleau, pointed out, “Rédoine Faïd didn’t shoot at the guards, he didn’t shoot at the watchtowers… It barely lasted seven minutes, and that’s why the decision has been made to treat him like an animal and cut him off from the entire world.”

Among the 11 co-defendants are several members of Faïd’s family, including his brothers Rachid and Brahim. Another accused individual is Jacques Mariani, described as an heir to one of the founders of a notorious organized crime gang on the French island of Corsica.

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Italy Rape Remarks Lead to Criticism of Meloni’s Partner Andrea Giambruno

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Italian TV presenter Andrea Giambruno, who is in a relationship with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has faced criticism for seemingly suggesting that young women could avoid rape by not getting drunk. Giambruno made these comments in the context of recent gang rape incidents in Italy, including one involving seven men accused of gang-raping a teenager in Sicily and another where six youths allegedly raped two young cousins in Caivano near Naples.

Giambruno later clarified that his comments were taken out of context and accused his detractors of exploiting his words unfairly. He explained that he had condemned the abhorrent acts as carried out by “beasts.”

Prime Minister Meloni, despite not commenting publicly on the matter, announced her intention to visit Caivano as a show of solidarity with the victims and the community. This decision followed a plea from the mother of one of the girls who was attacked, expressing concerns for her family’s safety after the incident.

Critics, including parliamentary inquiry head Martina Semenzato and politician Chiara Gribaudo, strongly denounced Giambruno’s remarks as victim-blaming and stressed that the blame should always be on the perpetrators, not the victims. Influential figure Chiara Ferragni used her social media platform to highlight that the problem lay with the actions of men, not wolves.

Despite the controversy, Giambruno’s partner, Prime Minister Meloni, proceeded with her visit to Caivano. However, this move was met with resistance and threats due to dissatisfaction with the government’s decision to phase out a minimum income benefit. Nevertheless, Meloni reaffirmed her commitment to fighting organized crime and ensuring security and a better future for the nation’s children.

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