Italian Mafioso arrested in Ibiza

NATIONAL Police officers have arrested Italian Mafioso Adamo Pisapia in Ibiza after a European arrest warrant was issued against him.

The 53-year-old from Salerno, south of Naples, belongs to the D’Agostino-Panella clan of the Camorra, the organised crime gangs that control the Neapolitan region of Campania. Pisapia is wanted in his native Italy for a wide array of crimes including belonging to a criminal organisation, extortion, arms trafficking and arson.  

Working with Salerno’s Polizia di Stato, Spanish law enforcement officers were able to track the gangster down to Ibiza, where he had been living for several months. Once located, an operation was launched and the accused was apprehended without incident near his home.

Pisapia was wanted for his activities with the Camorra between 1990 and 2002. He is accused of belonging to a Mafia-style D’Agostino-Panella clan based in Salerno, just south of the ever popular tourist destination of the Amalfi Coast.

His role in the organisation related to the economic side of the clan’s activities: running business with money acquired illegally, the warehousing of illegal firearms and extortion of businesses in his hometown of Salerno. The maximum jail sentence that Pisapia could receive in this case is six years and six months.

The Camorra is less well-known outside of Italy than its Sicilian equivalent the Mafia, but arguably more bloodthirsty, and has influence in Rome, Milan and even Spain. Its members exercise their control using a combination of intimidation and omertá: the code of silence that permeates all aspects of their society.

Typical crimes committed by Camorristi include extortion, theft and murder, as well as drug trafficking and money laundering.