French court agrees to extradition of fugitive Italian mafia assassin

A French court has agreed to the extradition to Italy of Edgardo Greco a convicted murderer, suspected of being a member of the powerful ‘Ndrangheta Calabrian mafia, who was arrested in France in February after 16 years on the run.

Italian police officers talk at Interpol headquarters in Lyon, on2 February 2023, when Greco was arrested. © Interpol via AP

The Lyon appeals court on Thursday agreed to Italy’s extradition request, noting that Greco has not consented.

His lawyer, David Metaxas, said he will appeal the decision because if Greco goes to Italy, he will “be dead legally and physically”. 

Metaxas said he would write to French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to ask for Greco to stand trial in France. 

Greco was convicted in Italy in 2006 to a life sentence for the murder in 1991 of Stefano and Giuseppe Bartolomeo, brothers who were members of a rival gang.

He is also accused of the attempted murder of Emiliano Mosciaro during what Interpol called a "mafia war" in the early 1990s.

Greco fled Italy after the sentencing and was on the run until French police arrested him in February in the city of Saint-Etienne, where he worked in Italian restaurants and at one point run his own, under an alias.

They found him through an Interpol information sharing system with Italian investigators aimed at tracking down ‘Ndrangheta members.

A week earlier, Italian police said they had dismantled a ‘Ndrangheta ring in southern Calabria and had placed 56 people under criminal investigation.

(with AFP)