‘Ndrangheta: fugitive Bruno Vitale arrested in Switzerland

Rome, 28 January. (LaPresse) – On the morning of Friday, 23 January 2026, the Zurich Cantonal Police, in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Police and on the recommendation of the Carabinieri Special Operations Group (ROS), arrested Bruno Vitale, a fugitive belonging to the Gallace ‘ndrangheta clan of Guardavalle, in the province of Catanzaro. The arrest is part of the “Ostro-Amaranto” investigation conducted by the Carabinieri ROS, which reconstructed, on the basis of circumstantial evidence, the operations of the local ‘ndrangheta in Guardavalle, active in the Soverato area and with ramifications in central and northern Italy. The investigation, which concluded in January 2025, led to the issuance of precautionary measures against 44 individuals, held responsible in various capacities for mafia-type association, external collaboration with a mafia association, political-mafia vote trading, attempted extortion, and trafficking in weapons and explosive materials, aggravated by mafia methods. Vitale’s capture represents the culmination of a long investigation conducted by the Carabinieri ROS under the coordination of the Catanzaro District Anti-Mafia Directorate, with the support of the I-CAN (Interpol Cooperation Against Ndrangheta) unit and in close collaboration with the investigative departments of the Swiss Federal Police and the Cantonal Police of Schwyz and Zurich. Thanks to technical services, surveillance and observation activities, including cross-border operations, the fugitive was located in a house in Wetzikon, a town in the canton of Zurich. Bruno Vitale, currently detained in a Swiss prison and awaiting extradition to Italy, will have to answer not only for the charges of participation in a mafia association and possession of weapons brought against him in the “Ostro-Amaranto” operation, but also for crimes relating to international drug trafficking brought against him in the “Kleopatra” operation, from which he escaped last May.