A powerful Italian mafia boss who was on the loose after being released by mistake in 2019 has been arrested in Spain where he was living under the radar with fake documents.

Domenico Paviglianiti, who was a leader of the feared ‘Ndrangheta mafia clan, was arrested as part of a joint investigation by the Italian and Spanish police in Madrid on 3rd August.

Now 60 years old, he was known as the ‘Boss of Bosses’ in the 1980s and 90s when he was a high-ranking leader of the notorious crime syndicate from the southern Italian region of Calabria.

According to reports, the ‘Ndrangheta still operates in parts of the Italian regions of Lombardy and Calabria as well as in South America, where it is involved in international drug trafficking.

The Spanish police said Paviglianiti was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2005 for murdering a man.

However, his lawyers got him off the hook by lodging a successful appeal against his extradition to Spain as he was serving a life sentence for crimes including murder and drug trafficking in his home country at the time.

He was arrested in Spain in 1996 and extradited to Italy three years later. However, his sentence came to an end in 2019 after he was released on a technicality that was later found to be erroneous.

Once released, he fled to Spain, staying with relatives in Barcelona before later moving to Madrid where he remained under the radar.

At the time of his most recent arrest, he was reportedly carrying false Portuguese documentation, almost EUR 6,000 (GBP 5,092) in cash, and six mobile phones.

He was sought by the police because he still had 11 years of a 16-year prison sentence handed down in Italy to serve.

It was not reported whether he will be sent back to Italy or remain in Spain, nor was it reported how many years he will be put away for. However, the most likely outcome is that he will have to serve his remaining 11-year term in Italy.