A Stidda (Star) Sicilian mafia boss
who is one of Italy's 20 most dangerous fugitives is set to
return to Italy from Spain Friday after a court there authorised
the execution of a European arrest warrant against him Thursday.
Gioacchino Gammino, 61, has been on the run since a jail break
in Italy 20 years ago.
The arrest warrant was issued by an Agrigento court in May 2014.
The Italian justice minister thanked Spanish authorities for
their cooperation in dealing quickly with the case of Gammino,
who was detained at Galapagar on the outskirts of Madrid on
December 17.
For years he had been posing as a respectable businessman and
restaurateur there.
The Stidda is a Mafia-type criminal organization centered in the
central-southern part of Sicily. Members are known as stiddari
or stiddaroli. It is most active in the rural parts of southern
Sicily and is partially a rival to Cosa Nostra. Some members
have a star tattooed on their bodies.
The celebrated late anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone
investigated Gammino over 20 years ago, before he was slain by
Cosa Nostra in 1992.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
