Italian mafia kingpin and Pablo Escobar fan arrested in cocaine capital Colombia after four years on the run

AN ITALIAN mafia kingpin has been arrested on drug trafficking charges after spending four years on the run.

Luigi Belvedere – a proud Pablo Escobar fan – was caught by cops in the cocaine capital of Colombia and now faces almost 19 years behind bars.

Luigi Belvedere has been arrested in Colombia on drug trafficking charges

Belvedere by Pablo Escobar’s grave

He had been on the run since December 2020 and was on the Italian interior ministry’s list of dangerous fugitives.

Cops tracked Belvedere down in Medellin overnight before arresting him.

When they announced he had finally been caught police gave out a picture of Belvedere posing by the grave of drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Investigators revealed they found the wanted man’s location due to intercepted information “from a well-known messaging service”.

Specialist EU police agency Europol also helped to track Belvedere down.

The mobster has been convicted in absentia with a final guilty ruling for importing cocaine and acting as an intermediary between the Casalesi clan of the Camorra and Colombian drug cartels, police said.

The Camorra, based in Naples and surrounding areas, is one of Italy’s main mafia groups.

It is made up of a myriad of family-based clans, unlike the more pyramidal structure of the Sicilian mafia, and its main businesses are drug trafficking, counterfeiting and money laundering.