Mafia Boss Arrested in Brazil After 31 Years on the Run

After 31 years on the run, one of Italy’s most feared mafiosos has been arrested on a quiet street in north-eastern Brazil. Pasquale Scotti, a leader of the Camorra syndicate who is wanted for more than two dozen murders, was detained by police while taking his children to school in Recife. Police believe his Brazilian family were unaware of his identity, which was exposed by Interpol through fingerprint examination. He had been living under the false name Francisco de Castro Visconti. Reinventing himself as a businessman, he had local identity papers, registered as a voter and partly owned a nightclub and food import business. Scotti is said to have arrived in Brazil in 1986, a couple years after being placed on Italy’s most wanted list. The following year he moved to Recife, a city of 1.5 million people on the north-east coast.