Rocco Morabito, otherwise known as the “Cocaine King of Milan,” escaped from prison in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo late Sunday, the county’s interior ministry reports.
The statement said Morabito, a top ‘Ndrangheta figure, was awaiting extradition back to Italy for “international drug trafficking.”
The infamous crime boss and three other inmates “escaped through a hole in the roof of the building” and robbed the residents of a nearby farmhouse, according to AFP.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini aired his frustration on Twitter shortly after the news broke:
“It is disconcerting and serious that a criminal like Rocco Morabito, boss of the ‘Ndrangheta, managed to escape from a jail in Uruguay while he was waiting to be extradited to Italy,” he said.
È sconcertante e grave che un criminale come Rocco Morabito, boss della ‘ndrangheta, sia riuscito a fuggire da una galera dell’Uruguay mentre era in attesa di essere estradato in Italia. https://t.co/aTeaM8RDVM
— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) June 24, 2019
A US diplomat estimated that ‘Ndrangheta’s narcotics trafficking, extortion and money laundering activities accounted for at least 3% of Italy’s GDP in 2010, according to Wikipedia.
Morabito had spent 23 years on the run leading up to his capture in Uruguay in 2017.
Authorities are now scouring the country in the hopes of recapturing the most wanted fugitive.
