Mafia fugitive Domenico Cracolici caught; mobster made an alliance with rival mob clan; faces huge gangster maxi-trial in Italy. Italian police raided a quiet cottage in the country’s beautiful but troubled south this week, finally getting the jump on a fugitive Mafia boss who had always been one step ahead of them for more than a year. It was a timely arrest, just as his clan comes under intense scrutiny in the largest anti-Mafia maxi-trial in more than thirty years. But this about is more than tying up loose ends. It’s a story of a man so driven by the politics of the Mafia he made an alliance with a mobster he hated the most, the rival who murdered his father. The Mob Reporter here with news of a fractious mob war, an unwieldy trial, and the end of a mobster’s run of luck.
Let’s start at the end. Or at least, where it ends for the moment. Domenico Cracolici was on the national list of the 100 most dangerous wanted fugitives when he was caught in a nighttime raid in an isolated cottage in the countryside, some 25 miles north of his hometown.
It happened overnight on Jan. 29, 2021. This is footage of the police raid. Bad luck for him, but he’d had his share of good: he was supposed to have been arrested more than a year ago when police unleashed a massive operation that has been making headlines again this week. Back on Dec. 19, 2019, police launched Operation Rinascita-Scott, targeting a prominent Mafia clan in Vibo Valentia. That’s the powerful Mancuso clan, who are allies of the Cracolici clan, and Domenico was meant to be caught up along with hundreds of others in that dragnet.
When they came for Domenico Cracolici that night, he was nowhere to be found. The Cracolici clan controls the territory of these two neighboring towns in the hills of Calabria: Maierato and Filogaso.
Domenico Cracolici is 39 and named as the boss of the clan that bears his family name. Along with his older cousin, Francesco Cracolici, the pair coordinated their activities with other ‘Ndrangheta clans, authorities allege.
After each of their dads were killed, their respective sons did what was expected of them, they led the fight for revenge. But business is business. And with both rival clans having long ties to the more prominent Mancuso clan, it seems like that a higher power intervened. Hiding their hatred, if not extinguishing it, the two men went to work, alongside the Bonavota.
Domenico, police said, was extraordinarily mobile. The search was also hampered by the remoteness of the territory and the influence the clan had over it. Authorities picked up a fresh scent that significantly narrowed their search. Within hours of finding out where he was sleeping, the Carabinieri’s feared Cacciatore squad moved in. While most of us probably associate cacciatore with a delicious Italian dish, the word means “hunter” in Italian.
Domenico was surprised in his sleep and arrested without incident. Both of these young bosses may meet again soon — inside the cages built for the 350 or so prisoners who are all facing the maxi-trial from themRinascita-Scott operation, which started this month. There are so many mobsters on trial, that they’ll hardly notice another one joining them. But we’ll take a closer look at that trial another time.
Italy - MR.
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