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Italian Mafia drugs king extradited

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-21 07:00

ROME -- One of Italy's most wanted fugitives and a leading member of the Italian Calabrian 'Ndrangheta criminal group was extradited from Canada to Italy on Wednesday to face international drugs trafficking charges, according to Italian News Agency ANSA.

Giuseppe Coluccio, 42, was arrested in a luxurious skyscraper apartment overlooking Lake Ontario in a joint Canadian-Italian police operation on August 7 after three years on the run.

Police said that they found $1.5 million in cash, cheques and jewelry in his apartment.

Dubbed by investigators the "drugs trafficking king," Coluccio is said to have had a key role in importing cocaine and heroin from South America to Europe -- a racket in which the 'Ndrangheta is now the world leader with an estimated annual turnover of 36 billion euros.

Coluccio fled to Canada to avoid arrest in 2005 but investigators say that even as a fugitive he continued to run a drugs racket in Italy and struck alliances with other organized crime groups.

He is known to have entered into a business partnership with Giuseppe Cuntrera, known as Big Joe, the boss of a leading Sicilian Cosa Nostra clan also living in Canada, ANSA said.