A fugitive member of the Italian Mafia had his time on the lam end this week after his arrest in Medellin, Colombia, hometown and resting place of cartel leader Pablo Escobar.
Prior to his arrest Thursday, Luigi Belvedere was wanted by the Italian State Police since 2020, when he was sentenced to over 18 years for drug trafficking, the ISP said in a release translated from Italian.
Belvedere acted as a go-between for cartels in Colombia and the Casalesi, part of the Camorra Mafia, the ISP said, and helped import cocaine into Italy and other parts of Europe. The ISP published a photo on X of Belvedere posing and squatting on Escobar’s tomb in Medellin.
Law enforcement found Belvedere through info from an unspecified “well-known messaging service.”
Colombian National Police Director William Salamanca Ramirez posted a video on X of the apartment raid that captured Belvedere. Italian personnel on a mission in Colombia participated. Belvedere had been the subject of an alarm from Interpol, the international police cooperation agency.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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