MAFIA FUGITIVE TRACKED DOWN BY POLICE THANKS TO GOOGLE MAPS
After being on the run for 20 years, a mafia fugitive has been arrested in Spain.
La Repubblica reported that police arrested Gioacchino Gammino in Spain on 17 December after tracking him down with the help of Google Street View.
Police had already traced the convicted murderer to Spain. While looking at Google Street View, police saw a photograph of a man who appeared to be Gammino standing outside a grocery, prosecutor Lo Voi confirmed to The Guardian.
Investigators then delved into social media where they found Gammino dressed as a chef on a local restaurant’s Facebook page.
While both Google and Facebook have certainly helped a lot with the search, the head of the investigation Lo Voi said that other investigations formed the base of their search.
“It’s not as if we spend our days wading through Google Maps to find fugitives. There were many previous and long investigations, which led us to Spain. We were on a good path, with Google Maps helping to confirm our investigations.”
Gammino escaped from a prison in Rome in 2003 and will be transferred back to Italy at the end of February.
Image credit: Vice