Police Found Italian Mafia Fugitive Cooking on YouTube

Watch what you post on YouTube, as it might land you in jail. That is, if you're a mafia fugitive who's part of one of Europe's biggest crime gangs.

As the BBC reports, the fugitive Italian gangster, Marc Feren Claude Biart, was tracked down by the Italian police after posting cooking videos on YouTube from his new home in the Dominican Republic.

He allegedly hid his face from appearing in any of his videos, but what ultimately gave him away were his distinctive body tattoos. It's not clear whether or not his videos are still available online, but The Washington Post said that Biart and his wife had uploaded a number of cooking tutorials on YouTube, "including ones where Biart's tattoos were visible." 

The Italian police stated on Monday (in Italian), March 29, that the 53-year-old had been living a peaceful life on the island and was considered part of the "expat community."

Allegedly part of the 'Ndrangheta crime gang, The Guardian says that Biart was arrested last Wednesday, March 24, by Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, which helped with the investigation, before Biart was flown back to Italy.

Interpol later posted the arrest and extradition on its Twitter account.

?Arrested in the Dominican Republic and extradited to Italy: #Ndrangheta fugitive Marc Feren Claude Biart, wanted on drug trafficking charges since 2014, lands in Italy to face justice.

Authorities located him after recognising his tattoos in a YouTube video.#StopNDrangheta pic.twitter.com/26ITHSZFW7

— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) March 30, 2021

Biart has supposedly been on the run since 2014 when police started looking for him for allegedly trafficking cocaine into the Netherlands on behalf of the Cacciola clan of the 'Ndrangheta mafia, says the BBC.

The 'Ndrangheta is said to be one of the world's most powerful organized crime groups as it controls most of the cocaine that enters Europe. It's based in Calabria, at the tip of the boot in Italy.

This news shows how well the Internet can be prowled by police forces to find someone halfway across the world. And in a weird turn could even give tips to other law evaders to just hold back from posting online. But if they truly still feel a calling to post that special cooking tutorial on YouTube, just make sure to hide everything, ok?