A mafia fugitive has been arrested after accidentally tipping off police to his location through a YouTube cooking channel he started with his wife.
Marc Feren Claude Biart was arrested in the Dominican Republic after seven years on the run, and had allegedly been living there for the past five years.
Italian police noted that the mafioso’s “love for Italian cuisine” and his tattoo ink made his arrest possible. Though the fugitive kept his face hidden in videos, he didn’t realize that his uncovered tattoos were distinctive enough to identify him.
NBC News reported: “Police said they believe Biart is a member of the notorious ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate — one of the most feared and powerful in Europe — from the Calabria region at the toe of southern Italy’s boot-shaped peninsula.”
Biart, 53, is wanted for allegedly trafficking cocaine from the Netherlands since 2014, according to police.
Reggio-Calabria Police Lt. Col. Massimiliano Galasso told NBC News that authorities had never stopped the search for Biart, and had recently turned to open source intelligence in their search. They were alerted by the activity on his wife’s YouTube channel, which was started earlier this year but no longer active, knowing that Biart had previously worked at a restaurant in Italy.
The mafia fugitive was arrested in Boca Chica, in the Dominican Republic, and was extradited to Italy on March 29. His arrest represents a breakthrough for the international effort led by Interpol and several European police forces to bring down organized crime outfits.
