He had been wanted by the police since February. One of the godfathers of the Neapolitan mafia was arrested on Friday after being betrayed by… a poodle. Luigi Cacciapuoti has been on the run since being sentenced to 15 years in prison for “mafia association” and was arrested in the town of Villaricca, near Naples, Le Figaro reported. The Carabinieri welcomed the “end of a manhunt that lasted several months” in a press release.
During the investigation coordinated by the Naples Anti-Mafia Cell, the police became convinced that the mafia leader was in the vicinity of that city. But the man was nowhere to be found. Until an unlikely helping hand: While hiding in the streets of Villaricca, investigators discovered a small white poodle “peeping through the half-closed window of a large villa.” The animal is not unknown to them: it belongs to a woman who often visited Luigi Cacciapuoti.
Could it be that the latter is hiding there? The police manage to control him and decide to arrest him. They spot Luigi Cacciapuoti “lying on the edge of the swimming pool” reading an article about the news about… the mafia. The 64-year-old man offered no resistance. The owner of the dog was also arrested “for complicity, aggravated by mafia methods”. Both were imprisoned.