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Vincenzo La Porta has been captured after 11 years – after watching a Napoli match in a Greek restaurant. La Porta was snapped in Corfu celebrating on a balcony after his hometown team won the Serie A championship a few weeks ago. (Credit: Reuters)
Italian mob boss Vincenzo La Porta was arrested in Greece over the weekend after police spotted him in a photo celebrating Napoli’s win in the Serie A professional soccer championship several weeks ago.
La Porta has been on the run for 11 years and linked to a dangerous organized crime group known as the Camorra.
As reported by Sky News, La Porta was snapped in Corfu Island in Greece celebrating on a balcony after his hometown team won a soccer championship. After investigators spotted him they headed to the Greek island to tail the 60-year-old fugitive.
Officers managed to take him into custody after blocking him going down a street on his motor scooter, Sky News reported.
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Vincenzo La Porta seen celebrating Napoli’s Serie A championship. (Reuters)
He was captured near the restaurant where he had reportedly been working as a chef. His lawyer said he has started a new family in Greece and does not want to be extradited.
“Betraying him was his passion for soccer and for the Napoli team,” police said in a statement. “With the championship victory, La Porta couldn’t resist celebrating.”
La Porta was wanted on convictions of criminal association, tax evasion and fraud. Appearing before a prosecutor on Saturday, he was ordered to be held in prison until a panel of appeal court judges rules on an extradition request from Italy.
Italian authorities want him to be flown back so he can serve a 14-year prison sentence, but his lawyer told Sky News LaPorta does not want to be extradited so he can stay in Greece with his new family.
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La Porta was wanted on convictions of criminal association, tax evasion and fraud. (Reuters)
“He was sentenced long ago for tax offenses,” Athanassios Giannakouris said.
“He has started a new family in Greece… he has a 9-year-old boy and is working as a cook to get by. He suffers from heart ailments. If he’s extradited, he and his family will be ruined,” he told Sky News.
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Police in Italy had reportedly been monitoring La Porta’s activity for months. (Reuters)
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Police in Italy had reportedly been monitoring La Porta’s activity for months, waiting for him to make a false move that would give them insight into his whereabouts.
Fox News Digital’s Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
Brianna Herlihy is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
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