Senior Mafia member arrested in London after 20 years on run

   
A senior member of an Italian mafia clan, wanted by the Italian authorities for almost 20 years, has been arrested in London where he had been running a travel agency, British police said on Thursday.    

Domenico Rancadore, 64, who had been sentenced to seven years in jail while on the run, was detained in west London under a European arrest warrant on Wednesday, London's Metropolitan Police said.    

The Italian Interior Ministry said he was a leading member of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra group and was accused of mafia association, extortion and other serious crimes.

Rancadore, nicknamed "U profissuri" (the professor), is the son of Giuseppe Rancadore, the former head of the mafia clan in Trabia near Palermo, who is serving a life sentence in jail.    

In Britain, Domenico Rancadore ran a travel agency and lived a comfortable life, the Italian Interior Ministry said.    

British media reported Roncadore, a qualified physical education teacher, had been living with his British wife and two children at a suburban house in west London using the name "Marc Skinner".    

Rancadore appeared on Thursday at London's Westminster Magistrates Court, where his lawyer said he had lived a "blameless life" in Britain, the BBC reported.    

The judge overseeing his case said there were concerns over the validity of his arrest warrant and he was remanded in custody to reappear in court again on Friday.


REUTERS