One of Italy's most wanted men, mobster Rocco Morabito, has arrived in Rome after being extradited from Brazil, where he had been hiding.

According to foreign media, Telegrafi reports, known as the "cocaine king of Milan", Morabito was arrested in May of last year in a joint operation by the Brazilian and Italian police.

Thus, the 55-year-old will serve a 30-year prison sentence for drug trafficking.

The mob boss spent decades on the run using a false identity in South America.

Police finally found him last year in João Pessoa, a port city in northeastern Brazil, where he was arrested along with another member of the Ndrangheta mafia group, Vincenzo Pasquino.

Pasquino has since been sentenced to 17 years in prison for drug trafficking.

"The Escape Artist"

As the BBC notes, Rocco Morabito's arrival in Rome ends a decades-long search.

Born in the Calabrian town of Africo and related to mob boss Giuseppe Morabito, Rocco Morabito became a key figure in the 'Ndrangheta, the sprawling criminal network that controls much of the cocaine traffic in Italy and beyond.

As a young man, Morabito quickly made a name for himself as a drug trafficker in Milan, establishing key cocaine smuggling routes from South America to the Italian city.

With his particular style of clothing, he quickly caught the attention of the Italian police, who put him under surveillance.

He was recorded trying to broker a deal to import more than a tonne of cocaine from South America, but disappeared shortly afterwards.

Police believe he fled to Brazil, where he was living under the assumed name Francisco Capeletto.

From there, he moved to neighboring Uruguay, where he lived in the resort of Punta del Este for at least 13 years.

While he had rented a luxury home, filling it with artwork, neighbors said he drove a modest car and it was only when he threw a lavish birthday party for his daughter that they learned of his wealth.

But just as Morabito registered his daughter in school under her real name, the police put her under surveillance.

In September 2017, when Morabito moved to a hotel in the capital, Montevideo, after having an argument with his wife, the police "charged towards him".

Among his possessions, they found a gun, 13 mobile phones and 150 passport-sized photographs of Morabito.

However, his days on the run weren't over yet.

In 2019, after spending two years in prison awaiting extradition to Italy, he escaped with three other prisoners through a hole in the roof.

As part of a multinational police operation led by Interpol aimed at fighting the 'Ndrangheta, he was finally tracked down in a hotel in the city of João Pessoa in 2021.

Brazil's Federal Supreme Court authorized his extradition to Italy last week.

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