Mafia Foreign Minister Arrested In Venezuela

A convicted European drug trafficker dubbed the "Mafia's foreign minister" will be deported to Italy after his capture in Caracas in a joint operation by Venezuelan and Italian police, authorities said Tuesday. Salvatore Miceli was caught at a Caracas hotel on Saturday, Venezuelan police said. He will be deported to Italy "in the coming days," Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami told reporters. Miceli was one of Europe's top five drug traffickers, said Capt. Antonello Parasiliti of the Carabinieri police in Trapani, who led the Italian police operation to arrest Miceli in Venezuela. Parasiliti told The Associated Press by phone interview that Miceli worked as a middleman between Italy's and South America's organized crime groups, leading fellow mobsters to call him the "Mafia's foreign minister" and "the chicken that lays golden eggs."

Via AP Photo via Friends of Ours