Rocco Morabito: Italian mafia boss known as 'cocaine king' escapes prison in Uruguay
Rocco Morabito, who was awaiting extradition to Italy, escaped through the roof of the prison in Uruguay's capital Montevideo.
Monday 24 June 2019 22:29, UK
An Italian mafia boss known as the "cocaine king of Milan" is on the run after escaping prison in Uruguay, authorities have said.
Rocco Morabito, 52, was the suspected head of Italy's most powerful organised crime gang, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, and one of Europe's biggest importers of South American cocaine.
He was awaiting extradition to Italy after being arrested in Uruguay in 2017 following more than two decades as a fugitive.
Uruguay's interior ministry confirmed on Monday that Morabito and three other inmates escaped through the roof of the prison in the capital Montevideo overnight.
After fleeing the former Carcel Central prison - now called a national rehabilitation centre - the inmates made their way "through a neighbouring farm" and robbed its owner, the interior ministry said.
Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini called Morabito's escape "disconcerting and serious" and said he would be "asking for immediate explanations from the Montevideo government".
"We will continue to hunt down Morabito, wherever he is, to throw him in jail as he deserves," Mr Salvini added.
Morabito, dubbed the "cocaine king of Milan," had been wanted for 23 years for convictions including Mafia association, drug trafficking and other serious crimes before his arrest in September 2017.
He had been convicted in 1994 after doing a £6.2m drug deal to import almost a tonne of cocaine into Italy, but fled the country before he could be jailed.
Morabito was found to be living under a fake name, using a false Brazilian passport, and living in a luxury villa with its own swimming pool in the seaside resort of Punta del Este.
A 9mm handgun, 13 mobile phones and £41,000 in cash were confiscated from his villa, as well as a luxury Mercedes coupe.
The registration of one of his children at a Uruguayan school - under his real name rather than an alias - was credited with leading police to the fugitive, who was previously suspected of escaping to Brazil.
Prosecutors said Morabito played a large role in trafficking operations between South America and Milan - a distribution point where drugs are then sold elsewhere.