ROSARNO , Italy, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Italian police captured and arrested Marcello Pesce, known as "The Dancer" and head of the 'Ndrangheta organized crime syndicate, on Thursday.
Pesce, 52, is the leader of one of the most powerful clans in the 'Ndrangheta syndicate, which controls much of Europe's cocaine trade. The clan is also accused of leading the exploitation of migrant workers in Italian orange groves. He was arrested in Rosarno, his hometown in Italy's southern Calabria region. Police have sought Pesce since 2010, when he was convicted in absentia of organized crime association and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
"Today is a beautiful day for Italy: Marcello Pesce, one of the most dangerous mafia figures still at large was brought to justice," Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said.
Pesce escaped capture until Thursday despite a concentrated, year-long effort by Italian police to break the hold of organized crime. The "All Inside" campaign has devastated Italian organized crime, the Milan-based newspaper Corriere Della Sera said. It added Pesce was unarmed and did not resist when he was captured.
The 'Ndranghta clan is regarded as notoriously ruthless, and surpassed Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Camorra group, headquartered in Naples, as Italy's most powerful criminal organization. It is also known for its fierce enforcement of its code of silence; in a notorious internal feud in 2013, one informant was fed alive to deliberately starved pigs, the news website TheLocal.it reported.
