20 years after escaping prison while serving a life sentence for murder
and then disappearing. A fugitive Italian mobster is back on the map — so literally it's
almost painful. On Google Maps, in fact. A roving Google Street View camera unknowingly recorded
the mobster chatting on the street in a town in Spain, ending his decades of life on the run
The story offered a headline that captured the public's imagination this week, but there
is so much more behind it. The Mob Reporter here with the inside story of this fugitive mobster —
from his criminal past and clever prison escape, to his secret double life and the unusual steps
police took to finally track him down, in an unexpected capture that left the mobster flummoxed:
"How did you find me? I haven't even called my family for 10 years," he reportedly asked the cops
after they grabbed him. Well, let me tell you about it. The irresistible headlines are largely true.
61-year-old Gioacchino Gammino really was spotted chatting outside a fruit and vegetable store in
Galapagar, a town of about 35,000 people on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain's capital city. And
here it is: it's a quaint street scene captured by one of Google's camera cars in July 2018.
We can see it clearly from all angles through the modern miracle that is Google Street View
The man we're interested in is the one in blue jeans and light brown shirt, standing
at ease outside a greengrocer called El Huerto De Manu, which in English means Manu's Orchard or Manu's Garden
But we all know cops in Italy aren't scrolling through random Street Views on the off chance
they recognize the shape of a wanted fugitive, especially one who hasn't been seen for 20 years
And we also see that the man's face is blurred, in keeping with Google's policy of anonymizing
the people caught on the passing cameras. Here's what happened, let's retrace their investigation
Gammino was on Italy's list of most dangerous wanted fugitives and anti-Mafia police recently
began a fresh search for Gammino sometime in 2017. From the start they knew he was likely in Spain
His past ties to the country are so well known his nickname within the mob back in Sicily is “Lo
Spagnolo,” in English, The Spaniard. We'll come back to that in a moment, but believing he
was living somewhere in the area under an assumed name, officers started chasing down
leads, including internet searches — and that's when they spotted this scene on Google Maps
They thought the man resembled Gammino, although their photos were decades old. The cops studied
the grocery store, which had since closed, and saw the phone numbers on the side and googled that
The phone number led them to a restaurant in the same town that also used that phone number
That restaurant was just a three-minute walk from the fruit store and is also named for
someone named Manu. It's called La Cocina De Manu, meaning Manu's Kitchen. Here it is back in 2018
also on Google Street View. The restaurant wasn't fancy, but was well liked. It got mostly positive
reviews for its pizzas and Sicilian specialties. People also had nice things to say about the chef
He advertised his authentic Sicilian food and wine. It all looks and sounds delicious. I admit
making this video made me hungry, and nostalgic for my time in Sicily, where the food is fantastic
Then there is this ad for his restaurant... along with six plates and three desserts of Sicilian
cuisine, it is a distinct reference to the Mafia — but in a pop cultural sense. You might recognize
the lettering and the image of a hand holding a knife and fork with spaghetti dangling down
It's a play, of course, on the logo of The Godfather, the book and the movie based on it, the most famous
Mafia movie of all. It's a bold choice for a secret mobster in hiding. The original image showed a
marionette, a puppet on strings, conjuring the image of the Mafia boss controlling everyone around him
And in the movie he pretty much did. In real life, for Gammino, maybe not so much
The place promoted its Italian chef, and now we know there can be truth in advertising — they did
have an Italian chef. The meals were prepared by a real Sicilian mobster. The Italian officers
probably got a chuckle out of this ad, but more important to them was a photo they found on dining
websites — a rare picture of the chef himself, standing proudly in front of his wood-burning
pizza oven. The officers compared the photo to a mug shot of Gammino, like this one. It's hard to
see, but Gammino has a scar on the left side of his chin. As luck would have it, the chef's left side
was turned towards the camera. You can see a bit of it here. I don't know how much they investigated
his time spent in the town before they hooked up with Spain's National Police to make the pinch
If they looked, they would have found that even though Gammino should have kept quiet, he just
couldn't not act like a mafioso. His dark side boiled over in 2018. Neighbors complained of
smoke and noise from Gammino's wood-burning oven. He ignored the complaints and municipal restrictions
so a town official shut the oven down. There's a fair chance that wouldn't have happened if he was
still in Sicily, and not long after, the official was waiting in line to buy a lottery ticket when
he was confronted by an angry Gammino. Here is video of what happened: Gammino yelled at the official
for ruining his business, smacked him hard on the side of the head, and then threatened to kill him
Last year the charge for the attack went to trial — without anyone discovering his real identity
It ended with a settlement for an apology and a fine. Gammino's restaurant was decorated with framed
photos of Italian actors and actresses, including a woman who starred in an episode of The Sopranos
and a man who directed a movie on the life and death of real-life anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni
Falcone. That one is particularly interesting because before Falcone was blown up by the Mafia
he investigated Gammino in the 1980s, linking him to Mafia drug trafficking
Gammino was first arrested in 1984 as part of the massive probe that led to the first anti-Mafia
maxi trial in Sicily, an iconic event in Italy's dramatic underworld history. After Gammino's most
recent arrest, on December 17, 2021, which is seen here in video released by Spanish police, the news
stayed low key until the italian newspaper La Repubblica revealed the use of Google Maps. But before
Google Maps made this mobster famous he was a boss of La Stidda around Agrigento, in Sicily's southwest
La Stidda, which in English means The Star, began in the 1980s as a rebel faction of displaced
members of Cosa Nostra, the traditional and powerful Sicilian Mafia. Gammino was a nephew of one of the
rebel bosses and an active participant in the feud between Cosa Nostra and La Stidda gangs
Included in all that bloodshed was a shooting east of the city of Agrigento, in the summer of 1989.
La Stidda assassins targeted a member of the rival Cosa Nostra clan, but in a case of
mistaken identity killed his brother instead. Those behind the botched hit was another pair of brothers —
our Google fugitive and his older brother, Angelo. Both fled to Spain to avoid murder charges
The younger brother's flight lasted only months before he was arrested in Barcelona, Spain
where they had family. He was returned to Italy and imprisoned for a life sentence
Angelo, meanwhile, went several years undetected until, in a remarkable turn, he was caught by
happenstance on a Spanish street, with uncanny similarities to the Google Maps revelation
Angelo was spotted in 2001 by pure chance, police said at the time, when an Italian police officer
recognized him while he was out walking during a visit to Spain. It's clear this pair
have unfortunate timing for heading outdoors. He also was returned to Italy and the brothers were
imprisoned together in Rome's Rebibbia prison. In 2002, however, the younger Gammino escaped —
with some flair, I might say. You see a movie was being shot inside the prison. There was added
confusion, a lot of action, and more outsiders. One account says there was an escape attempt
meant as a distraction, prompting authorities to usher visitors out of the prison. Another
version says that distraction was all a part of the movie, but in either case, Gammino, likely with
assistance, hid among the rabble of movie extras and visitors as they left the prison's gates
And just like that, he became a ghost for 20 years — until police swarmed out from an undercover
van and grabbed him off the street. He now faces extradition to Italy to resume his life sentence
Maybe this time they'll keep better tabs on him.
Thanks for watching