In his indictment, Mr Bonavota is described as being a leader who "took the most important decisions", along with other top 'Ndrangheta bosses, and "looked after the interests of the association in the Rome area and in the gambling sectors and drug trafficking". However, Mr Bonavota was the last remaining fugitive suspect implicated in the massive case against the Vibo Valentia 'Ndrangheta that led to the 2021 maxi-trial against more than 300 alleged mafia members and their helpers. That sentence was overturned in 2021 by an appeals court, while he was on the run.
Mr Bonavota went on the run just after being sentenced by a lower court to life in prison for two murders committed in 20, of a lower-ranking member of his own clan, and a rival boss of a nearby clan. It has successfully expanded well beyond its traditional domains of drug trafficking and loan sharking, now using shell companies and frontmen to reinvest illegal gains in the legitimate economy. Italy's most-powerful and wealthy mafia, the 'Ndrangheta controls the bulk of cocaine flowing into Europe and it operates in more than 40 countries around the world. The clan also operates around Rome, and in the northern regions of Piedmont and Liguria, which includes Genoa. Mr Bonavota is considered the brains of 'Ndrangheta's Bonavota clan - which includes his two brothers - based in the Sant'Onofrio area of the Calabrian province of Vibo Valentia. Local media said he had been leaving the city's cathedral when arrested and was carrying a fake ID. Mr Bonavota was arrested on Thursday morning, local time, in the northern port city of Genoa, Italy's police said in a statement. Pasquale Bonavota, 49, had been wanted since November 2018, after escaping an arrest warrant - for homicide and for mafia association - issued by a magistrate in Calabria, in southern Italy.
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