Calabrian mafia fugitive Antonio Gallace faces a five-year prison term for extortion and illegal arms possession following his arrest in Spain's eastern coastal city of Valencia late on Wednesday.
Gallace, 46, a member of the Calabrian mafia or 'Ndrangheta's Gallace clan, went on the run in 2012 after a Milan court convicted and jailed him. He was earlier probed over 'Ndrangheta trafficking in the province of Milan of drugs imported from Spain and South America.
He was also suspected of a string of arson attacks and death threats issued against shopkeepers in Pieve Emanuele near Milan, according to investigators.
Police tracked Gallace down after learning that members of his family were flying from the northern Italian city of Bergamo to Valencia to join him for his birthday. He was arrested at the wheel of a Land Rover waiting to collect his relatives at Valencia airport.
Gallace's arrest came the same day as that of another 'Ndrangheta fugitive, Antonio Vottari, at Rome's Fiumicino Airport, as he came off a flight from Australia after five years on the run.
Vottari, 31, was in September jailed in absentia for seven years and six months for membership of an international gang that trafficked cocaine from South America to Europe, run by 'Ndrangheta clans in San Luca, Calabria.
International arrest warrants had been issued for Vottari and for Gallace.
Swiss police on Tuesday arrested 15 Italian 'Ndrangheta suspects based in the northeast canton of Thurgau following extradition requests filed by Italy in February 2015 and January this year.
Drug trafficking, extortion and money-laundering rackets have in recent decades made the Calabrian mafia or 'Ndrangheta Italy's wealthiest and most powerful criminal organisation.
The 'Ndrangheta operates throughout Italy as well as in Europe but its influence and networks extend from Australia to North and South America.
