Di Lauro, 38, was arrested without a fight at a modest apartment where he lived with his wife in the Chiaiano district in southern city Naples, police said.It appears that, unlike most Western governments, Italy is keeping its word and really is doing all it can to crack down on the notorious crime networks that operate in its country from the gypsy Mafia clans to Italy's Central Bank. This is the kinda of action citizens throughout Europe are crying out for:
He was sitting with his two cats and eating pasta when police arrested him in an operation involving around 150 officers.
Police allowed Di Lauro to change his clothes and freshen up before taking him away, local media reported. He voiced concern for the fate of his cats.
Naples police chief Antonio De Iesu told a press conference that "unusual activity" had led police to the suspect, previously convicted of criminal association.
Police found no weapons and a small sum of money in the flat.An international arrest warrant was issued for Di Lauro in 2006, and he was one of Italy's four most-wanted criminals, according to the interior ministry website.© AFPItalian police on Saturday arrested top mafia fugitive Marco Di Lauro, the fourth son of ex-Camorra boss Paolo Di Lauro, after over 14 years on the run.
Italian media said he was considered the second most dangerous man in Italy, after Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro.
Photos in Italian media showed Di Lauro wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt being brought to the police station in Naples by car, with a police helicopter overhead.
Around 100 people including police gathered outside shouting "well done, well done", according to television images.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted his thanks to the police for the arrest of the "super fugitive".
Far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini voiced congratulations for a "very important operation".
The high-profile arrest was reportedly linked to the murder earlier in the day of the wife of a man linked to Di Lauro, Salvatore Tamburrino.
Tamburrino, 40, handed himself in for shooting dead Norina Mattuozzo, 33, shortly before De Lauro's arrest.
She was found dead at her parents' home in Naples where she had gone to live after her relationship with Tamburrino deteriorated, local media reported.
Police chief De Iesu refused to confirm or deny a link between the murder and Di Lauro's arrest.
Di Lauro had been on the run since he escaped a massive police swoop in 2004 known as the "night of the handcuffs".
An informant said in 2010 that Di Lauro was responsible for at least four murders.
Marco's father Paolo Di Lauro was head of the Camorra clan that operates in Naples' impoverished Scampia and Secondigliano neighbourhoods.
He has been in prison since 2005, and Marco had reportedly taken over running the much-weakened clan.
At least 130 people were killed in a bloody power struggle there after the Amato-Pagano clan split from the Di Lauro clan in 2004.
Marco Di Lauro, reportedly known within the family by the code F4 for "fourth son", had nine brothers and one sister.
All the brothers are now either in prison or dead, Italian newspapers reported.
Brexit delayed? Theresa May to request 'short' extension in letter to EUFrance's Macron, who, like May, is quite unpopular at home, doesn't intend on making things any easier:
It has been nearly three years since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, and two years since May herself set the March 29 deadline to formally exit the bloc. Now, she is expected to write a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk to formally request a delay, a move that will surely cause disquiet among Brexiteers.
Since the withdrawal deal was agreed between May and the EU back in November, the deal has twice been rejected by parliament, leaving the prime minister humiliated and, seemingly, on the brink of being ousted as leader.
May has alluded to a delay extending beyond June 30 if parliament does not ratify her deal. This would require the UK to participate in June's European Parliament elections, which could further delay proceedings, increasing the likelihood of yet another round of re-negotiations or possibly even a second referendum.
"There will be no renegotiations, no new negotiations, no additional guarantees in addition to those already given," European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said. "We have intensively moved towards Britain, there can be no more."
May could face humiliating disappointment as Macron strongly opposes Brexit delayAnd is it possible PM May may bail before Brexit gets even more farcical? (if that was even possible) If so, she'd be following in the footsteps of her predecessor, former PM and Conservative leader, David Cameron, who is responsible for offering the UK a vote on Brexit in the first place - knowing it would get him into power but having no honest intention of ever attempting to follow through with it himself.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to oppose the Brexit delay requested by the British PM, Le Point reports. This would block the extension, making a no-deal more likely and result in total failure for Theresa May.
Macron is expected to say no to Theresa May's plea to postpone the Brexit date, the media writes ahead of the meeting at the European Council.
A Elysee official refuted the report by Le Point magazine later on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The request for a Brexit extension must be unanimously backed by all other 27 EU members, which means that a strong opposition from a single country is enough to throw the delay under the bus. Sources within the administration of the French president have repeatedly signaled that Macron would not back it solely to save Britain from a chaotic no-deal Brexit situation.
While May has already asked for an extension, British Parliament has not approved the Brexit plan yet, and it remains unclear whether it will actually do so. Last week, British MPs rejected the ill-fated agreement for the second time - just 17 days before the deadline of March 29. At the same time, they have opposed the 'no-deal' scenario as well, sending quite mixed signals to the EU.
While Macron is apparently taking a strong stance on the UK, he faces a still-growing crisis in France. The ongoing Yellow Vest protests are the major issue which the Macron administration has been unable to tackle for several months. The demonstrations were initially sparked by a fuel tax hike, yet promptly overgrew that scope, targeting low wages, income inequality and Macron's perceived protection of the wealthy establishment.
No Brexit deal by June 30, no May? Downing Street refuses to rule out UK PM quittingSee also:
Downing Street officials have declined to rule out Theresa May resigning as PM in the event of her deal not being ratified by the EU by June 30 and a longer Brexit delay being implemented.
[...]
Asked to clarify the PM's position on the length of a delay to Brexit, a spokesman for May refused on four separate occasions to deny that she intended to quit if the deal had not been given the green light by then.
May's spokesman told reporters: "She doesn't believe a long extension is the right thing to do." On whether it would be right to infer the PM could resign within weeks, her spokesman claimed: "What you should infer is her determination to get this over the line."
The PM will meet with leaders of the UK opposition parties on Wednesday evening to discuss extending Article 50.
It comes as French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian warned May's government that they will only agree to granting an extension to Article 50 on the condition she can give guarantees that her Brexit deal will be passed by UK MPs, Reuters reports.
"If May cannot offer guarantees her Brexit deal will be passed in British parliament, the European Council will turn down her extension request."
Donald Tusk, the president of the EU Council, released a statement on Wednesday afternoon, claiming that a short extension was "possible," but conditional on UK MPs voting in favor of the deal next week in parliament.
Earlier, Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the EU Commission, reaffirmed Brussels' position on a possible extension to Article 50. He insisted that a deal needed to be signed off between the UK and EU before European Parliament elections on May 23.
May is scheduled to travel to Brussels for an EU summit on Thursday in a bid to secure vital changes to her agreement which can command the support of a majority of MPs and avoid the UK exiting the EU on March 29 without a deal.
One can compromise, one can be diplomatic, but never if one's dignity and freedom was at risk. One can never negotiate indefinitely with those who are starving and enslaving billions of human beings, all over the world.
Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan and so many countries are now bleeding. Soon, Iran could be confronted. And Nicaragua. And perhaps China and Russia themselves could face yet another Western invasion.
A 'harmonious world' may have to be built later; definitely one day, but a little bit later.
First, we have to make sure that our humanity survives and that Western fascism cannot consume further millions of innocent human lives.
Like me and my big childhood friend Karel at an elementary school in former Czechoslovakia, Russia and China may have to once again stand up and confront 'unharmonious barbarity'; they may have to fight, in order to prevent an even greater disaster.
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