Cocaine smuggling kingpin Genco nabbed 20 years on

P(ANSA) – Rome, May 5 – Vito Genco, a long-sought international drug trafficker who worked with Latin American mafia clans smuggling cocaine to Italy, was extradited from Venezuela Monday after nearly 20 years on the run, police said.BRGenco was escorted by Italian and Venezuelan police off a flight from Caracas that landed at Leonardo da Vinci Airport. He was arrested by Interpol in the Venezuelan city of Valencia where he had been living in comfort but low profile, eschewing use of bank or credit cards. Genco was sought to serve a sentence handed down to him for his involvement in the police crackdown code-named “Carthaginian” that led to five tonnes of cocaine being seized in March 1994 and the dismantling of the Cuntrera Caruana clan.BRAfter officially being notified of his arrest at police offices at the airport, Genco was transferred by unmarked police car to the prison of Civitavecchia. Genco gave authorities the slip as far back as August 1995 after he was acquitted in a country court trial and set free. During an appeal trial in his absence held at the request of the prosecution, however, Carabinieri officers presented new evidence proving his involvement in trafficking as much as 11 tonnes of cocaine to the Turin region.BRPolice sources said Genco had been traced at last thanks to his use of a GPS navigation system on his car in Valencia, where he had an extensive support network and was nicknamed “il professore,” apparently living off real-estate rent.BR/P
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