Wanted Italian Mafia Member Caught After Uploading Cooking Videos On YouTube

An Italian mafia member’s desire to show his culinary skills to the world has landed him in jail after being a fugitive for seven years.

Italian police tracked down and arrested 53-year-old Marc Feren Claude Biart Wednesday after he uploaded cooking videos to YouTube, BBC reported.

Biart had covered his face in the videos, but the identifying tattoos he had on his body were clearly visible in the footage.

Polizia di Stato, which is one of the national police forces of Italy, said in a statement they arrested the alleged 'Ndrangheta crime gang member in the Dominican Republic, following which he was extradited back to Italy, from where he had fled. [Google Translation showed]

The police said Biart was living a quiet life in Boca Chica, a Dominican Republic town, according to BBC. Biart, who had been hiding from the Italian police since 2014, was wanted for allegedly trafficking cocaine on behalf of the 'Ndrangheta mafia’s Cacciola clan into the Netherlands.

The ‘Ndrangheta mafia is believed to be a powerful crime group due to its control over the cocaine that enters Europe, BBC reported. Their location of central operations is reportedly located in Calabria.

The alleged boss of the clan is Luigi Mancuso, a 66-year-old man usually referred to as "The Uncle." Some of the gang members are now facing justice in Italy’s biggest mafia trial in dozens of years. Allegedly, there are over 350 mobsters and corrupt officials that are charged with being a part of the gang, a thorough investigation into the ‘Ndrangheta crime group revealed.

During the pre-trial hearing, it took at least three hours to read out all the names of the defendants, an AFP report in January said. The charges the gang members are facing include money laundering, extortion, drug trafficking and murder.

There are almost a thousand witnesses that will be giving evidence at the trial, which began in January and will last until the year 2023.