The Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government has suspended the extradition to Italy of Mafia leader Rocco Morabito, known as the “king of cocaine”, on the grounds that there is an ongoing criminal case in Brazil and that it legally blocked his delivery.
In an order sent Tuesday (28th) to the Federal Supreme Court (STF), to which AFP has access, the Justice Department announced it was suspended due to “new information” that a “temporary detention order” was issued. Against Morabito, one of the bosses of the Calabrian mafia, ‘Ndrangheta was arrested in João Pessoa, Paraíba in May 2021.
The STF had authorized his extradition in May.
Under Brazilian law, no person who has been criminally prosecuted or convicted in Brazil may be extradited to another country unless authorized by the Brazilian Justice or at the request of the extradited person.
The order, signed by National Minister of Justice José Vicente Santini, enables the ministry to consult the Judiciary “on the early release of the foreigner for extradition purposes”, given “legal pending issues”.
Having good relations with Latin American crime syndicates, Morabito has been wanted by the Italian Justice for criminal organization and drug trafficking since 1995.
Sentenced in absentia to 28 years in prison, a sentence later increased to 30 years, Morabito was arrested in May last year along with another ‘Ndrangheta member, Vincenzo Pasquino, originally from Turin.
The gangster was arrested at a hotel in Montevideo, Uruguay in 2017 after living under another identity for 13 years in the Uruguayan resort town of Punta del Este.
Uruguayan justice approved his extradition to Italy in 2018, but led a notorious escape from the roof of the Central Prison in Montevideo in June 2019, along with three other foreigners, and has since been on the run until his arrest. Brazil.
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source: Noticias
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