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Mafia Murderer-Turned-Pizza Chef Arrested After 16 Years As Fugitive

(Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Dylan Housman Deputy News Editor
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A hitman for an Italian mafia was arrested in France Thursday after fleeing authorities for 16 years, police said.

The hitman, Edgardo Greco, had been working as a pizza chef in the city of Saint-Etienne in southeastern France, according to NBC News. The 63-year-old was convicted of killing two people in 1991 and escaped police custody in 2006.

Greco was a member of the ‘ndranghetha crime organization and was convicted of killing brothers Stefano and Giuseppe Bartolomeo by beating them to death with a metal bar in Calabria. He was also accused of murder in a separate incident.

Italian news reported that Greco worked at an Italian restaurant in France under an alias and released a photo of him in a white chef’s coat. (RELATED: Three Charged Over Beating, Murder Of Infamous Mob Boss James ‘Whitey’ Bulger In West Virginia Prison)

His killings were linked to the 1990’s “mafia wars” in the Cosenza region of Italy, and he was convicted during the “Maxi Trial” which convicted hundreds of mobsters during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. When he escaped police custody in 2006 after being given a precautionary prison order, Italian authorities issued a European arrest warrant for him.

Greco was arrested as part of the I-CAN project, an Italian-funded Interpol plot to take down the ‘ndranghetha crime organization. The ‘ndranghetha group is considered Italy’s most dangerous criminal organization today, according to NBC News, and is heavily connected to the Latin American drug trade.