Arrested Giuseppe Utzeri alleged mafia boss in Marbella.

National Police have arrested an alleged mafia boss in Marbella. The 48-year-old fugitive, Giuseppe Utzeri, is a former policeman and ex security guard for Italian Government Minister Gianni De Michelis. Utzeri was wanted by Italian and Spanish authorities suspected of being the leader of the powerful ‘Ndrangheta Calabrian mafia family, with strong links to the Sicilian mob. The ‘euro warrant’ was originated by the Italian authorities against Utzeri for his involvement in a large drug trafficking operation in Morocco where he is thought to have lived in a luxury villa. ‘Ndrangheta managed to become the most powerful crime syndicate in Italy in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Giuseppe has also been linked with the 1997 disappearance and murder of suspected mafia collaborator Salvatore Nigro in Rome, where his organisation is thought to have had a stronghold. Nigro’s body was never found and despite the authorities being convinced Utzeri was involved, no clues or evidence were ever unearthed. After Nigro’s disappearance, a man called Renato Cervo took his place. Cervo was the front man for Enrico Nicoletti, who at the time was considered to be the ‘cashier’ of this mafia family. According to ROS (Special Operations Group of the Carabinieri) some of the drug money was invested in the health sector. Apparently, Cervo was the chief administrator for a private clinic called ‘Radiologica Romana’.At the time of his arrest, Giuseppe was wanted by Spanish police for his alleged involvement along with fellow mafia boss and drug trafficker Massimiliano Avesani in the murder of Almeria-born Rafael Castilla Lajara six years ago for allegedly stealing hashish from Utzeri’s organisation.
According to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Utzeri and Avesani first suspected a drug mule called Jose Miguel Fernandez of stealing hashish from them. They allegedly beat Fernandez with a baseball bat, made him dig a grave and buried him alive. As they realised their error, they pulled Fernandez out of the grave and proceeded to find and murder Rafael Castilla Lajara. At this time, Utzeri lived on the Costa del Sol, but the Lajara investigation forced him to move out of Europe to Morocco. Hardly a month goes by without news of a mafia boss being arrested in Spain. This is largely due to the fact that Southern Spain’s proximity to Morocco and Italy makes it the ideal place to hide from the Italian authorities, whilst able to conduct drug-related operations with Morocco, the drug gateway to Europe for North African hashish and Latin American cocaine.