A mafia boss has broken out of a Sardinian prison using a rudimentary method of escape.
Marco Raduano, known as “Pallone”, fled from the high-security Badu ‘e Carros Prison in Nuoro, to the east of the island, on Saturday morning.
The 39-year-old somehow procured a key for the prison’s courtyard, then scrambled down the exterior wall using several knotted bed sheets.
The Puglia boss dropped from a height onto some grass to make a getaway two hours before guards awoke to discover he had escaped.
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Raduano, a member of the Gargano Mafia serving 19 years for mafia crimes, was due to be released in 2046 according to the Italian paper, Il Messaggero.
General secretary Giovanni Villa told the paper: “For months we have been denouncing the lack of staff and this is the main factor that has compromised security in the Nuoro prison.”
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Giovanni Conteddu of the prison’s union chapter said: “It was going to happen sooner or later, the prison is full of holes.”
Meanwhile, deputy justice minister Francesco Paolo Sisto said that “it was a very well-prepared escape”.
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A manhunt was launched in Sardinia following his escape and an inspection of the Badu ‘e Carros Prison is to be carried out, according to Mr Sisto.
The escape comes a couple of months after the “last godfather” of mafia bosses, Matteo Messina Denaro, was caught and arrested after 23 years on the run.
