Alleged Mafia boss extradited to Italy

TIRANA, Jan. 11 – Police in Albania on Tuesday extradited to Italy one of the Sacra Corona Unita crime syndicate’s top fugitive bosses. Interpol Tirana said Albino Prudentino, 59, an Italian, was flied early morning to his homeland where he is accused of being part of a crime organization that engaged in kidnapping and drug trafficking.
Following an international arrest warrant Prudentino was arrested in September in the southwestern Albanian city of Vlora where he had some businesses, which have now been confiscated.
A police statement released Tuesday said that during 2005-2009 Prudentino has been involved in illegal activities in the southeastern Italian city of Brindisi and its surroundings as one of the leaders of the criminal Mafia organization Sacra Corona Unita.
His extradition is made several months after he was arrested Sept. 29 in Vlora by Albanian and Italian police in a joint operation held by the Albania General Prosecutor’s office and Italian anti-mafia prosecutors in the city of Lecce. His detention was part of an international anti-mafia operation codenamed “Calipso,” which led to the arrest of seven other suspects in Italy and one in Thailand.
“Prudentino is considered one of the heads of the Italian crime syndicate, the Sacra Corona Unita,” the statement said.
An international warrant was issued for Prudentino’s arrest on September 20 by the main court of the city of Lecce, charging him with “mafia criminal association, drug trafficking and robbery”.