After more than 14 years on the run, Italian authorities arrested top mafia boss Marco Di Lauro on Saturday, nabbing one of the heads of the Camorra organized crime syndicate.

In an operation involving 150 officers, police arrested Di Lauro at an apartment in the Chiaiano district of the southern city of Naples.

The 38-year-old, who was found sitting with his two cats and eating pasta when authorities arrived, did not resist. He reportedly voiced concern over the fate of his cats before being taken away

Police said that "unusual activity" tipped them off to Di Lauro's location. Italian media reported that the arrest was connected to a murder that happened earlier on Saturday that was carried out by a man linked to Di Lauro.

Read more: Italian Mafia, bikers, Berlin clans: Europe's crime gangs

Top fugitive

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte took to Twitter to thank police for the arrest of the "super fugitive." Interior Minister Matteo Salvini also congratulated authorities on a "very important mission."

According to the Interior Ministry, Di Lauro was one of the top four most-wanted criminals in Italy.

He escaped a massive police raid in 2004. Di Lauro was responsible for at least four murders, an informant told authorities in 2010.

He was considered to be the second-most dangerous man in Italy after Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, Italian media reported.

He is the fourth son of Paolo Di Lauro, who headed the Camorra clan prior to his arrest in 2005. The much-weakened clan operates out of Naples' Scampia and Secondigliano neighborhoods. 

At least 130 people were killed as part of a violent power struggle when the Amato-Pagano clan split from the Di Lauro clan in 2004.

rs/jlw (AFP, EFE)

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