New Delhi: A mafia fugitive in Italy, who had been on the run for nearly 20 years, has been caught by the police with the help of the Google Maps app, news agency Reuters reported.
Quoting an investigator, the report said the 61-year-old mafioso, Gioacchino Gammino, was tracked down in Spain after a two-year investigation.
Gammino, a member of a Sicilian mafia group called Stidda, was found to be living in Spain’s Galapagar — a town located near the capital Madrid — under a fake name.
According to the report, a man who looked like Gammino was spotted on Google Maps street view picture standing in front of a fruit shop, and that triggered a deeper investigation.
"The photogram helped us to confirm the investigation we were developing in traditional ways," Nicola Altiero, deputy director of the Italian anti-mafia police unit (DIA), was quoted as saying.
Gammino had fled from Rebibbia jail in Rome in 2002, and a court had sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2003 for a murder dating back several years.
A report in The Guardian said she had been living in Galapagar for many years where he had married, and changed his name to Manuel. He was working as a chef, and also owned a fruit and vegetable shop.
Gammino had apparently thought he had managed to give the police the slip for good. The Guardian report said he asked the police after his arrest: “How did you find me? I haven’t even called my family for 10 years!”
Quoting Altiero, the Reuters report said Gammino is currently under Spain police’s custody, and they hope to bring him to Italy by the end of February.