• Domenico Rancadore, 64, went missing in 1994 and has an English family
• Nicknamed 'The Professor', he was head of Mafia family in northern Sicily
• Was convicted and jailed for seven years in Italy while he was on the run
• Scotland Yard tracked him down to suburban street in Uxbridge, London
• Neighbours to the fugitive's £300,000 home thought he was a chauffeur
  

By Martin Robinson and Mark Duell

PUBLISHED: 05:36 EST, 8 August 2013 | UPDATED: 11:39 EST, 8 August 2013

A fugitive Mafia boss discovered living in the UK as a suburban house husband could walk free tomorrow due to ‘significant deficiencies’ in the warrant for his arrest, it emerged today.

Domenico Rancadore, 64, who is wanted by the Italian authorities, was arrested by British police at his home in Uxbridge, west London, last night under a European Arrest Warrant.

The father of two had been living as a house husband under the alias Marc Skinner since 1993 while his wife, Anne, 60, ran a travel agency to support the family.

Today, as he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court, District Judge Quentin Purdy said: ‘The warrant may be such it has to be discharged. There are concerns about the validity of the warrant that has come before the court.’

Euan Macmillan, defending, agreed that there were ‘significant deficiencies’ with the document.

He added: 'His life is here, his family his here, his community ties are here. His wife is the principal bread winner in the family and he has to all intents and purposes been a house husband since he has been in this jurisdiction.'

The judge remanded Rancadore in custody until a hearing tomorrow at 2pm, when he will decide whether the Italian can be released on bail.

Wearing a pale blue shirt with dark trousers, Rancadore was helped by an Italian interpreter as he sat in the dock holding a copy of the arrest warrant.

The former teacher is wanted in Italy to serve a seven-year jail term for being part of a criminal organisation between 1987 and 1995, having been convicted in his absence in 1999.

Italian Police say he was involved in extortion, racketeering and drug trafficking.

The wanted mobster, who has an English wife and two children, had the nickname 'The Professor' among Cosa Nostra members, because he was once a PE teacher in Italy.

Rancadore was a member of a powerful Mafia family running organised crime in the north of Sicily. 

He was convicted of extortion and other serious crimes and was head of the family in Trabia, around 30km from the Sicilian capital Palermo. 

Sources in Italy said today that Scotland Yard detectives were waiting for him when he came back from work last night.

The fugitive then saw the officers and tried to flee but was unable to get away.

Neighbour Joan Hills, 76, said Rancadore and his family had lived in the road for several years.

'I know him very well and he's one of the best neighbours you could ever have,' she said.

'They have been here for years. I've seen the children grow up with my children. I don't know the ins and outs of this, but they are the nicest people that you could wish to meet.'

A statement from the Italian Interior Ministry said: 'Accused of crimes of mafia-style association, extortion and other serious offences and sought since 1994, multiple previous offender Rancadore Domenico, 64, from Parlermo, was arrested yesterday in London by British police.

‘He would always go out dressed nicely, he was either in a very sharp suit or smart casual. Again if you think about it, it was your typical Mafiosi type look.’

He added that after the family moved in, Rancadore put up a high hedge around his front garden, put up a big gate and installed a CCTV camera that recorded who entered through the gate.

Mr Stidder said: ‘He had a row with a neighbour over the bushes. Thinking on it now, you would think you wouldn't mess with these kind of people. But it was certainly not violent.’

Scotland Yard confirmed that Rancadore, 64, was arrested at 7pm yesterday by the force's extradition unit.

A spokesman said: 'Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service extradition unit arrested Domenico Rancadore on a European arrest warrant alleging that he has an outstanding sentence of seven years imprisonment to serve for participation in Mafia association between December 17 1987 and April 13 1995 in Palermo, Italy.

'He was taken into police custody and is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court today.'

By RYAN HOOPER

Domenico Rancadore's arrest in London this week brought to an end almost two decades of life as a fugitive for the Mafia boss.

He had evaded justice since 1994, having been sentenced to seven years in jail his absence for links to the Mafia group Cosa Nostra, and was believed to have been running a travel agency in London.

However his capture by authorities yesterday represents the latest in a line of Mafia fugitives to have been apprehended after years of evasion.

Michele Zagaria was described as one of Italy's most wanted mobsters before he was caught at the end of 2011.

On the run since 1995, Zagaria was found in an underground bunker in Casapesenna, in his home town province of Caserta in southern Italy, headquarters of the Casalesi clan of the Neapolitan Camorra.

Prosecutors said at the time how the province's well-known infiltration of local businesses and politics was similar to that of the Cosa Nostra.

Gerlandino Messina lasted 11 years on the run before being caught in 2010 - one of several mobster arrests that year.

Messina had been on the run since the late 1990s having been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for mafia association and a series of murders.

He was eventually nabbed by the Carabinieri in Favara, near Agrigento, his power base in Sicily. It prompted then-premier Silvio Berlusconi to say the arrest was the latest evidence of the government's 'unprecedented success' in cracking down on organised crime.

It came as anti-Mafia police arrested dozens of suspected mobsters that summer, including Nicola Schiavone, from the Camorra crime syndicate in southern Italy, who was believed to have taken the helm of the Casalesi clan, a ruthless group responsible for murders, extortion and other trafficking - though police said he showed no resistance to his arrest.

In November 2007, Salvatore Lo Piccolo, convicted of murder and on the run since 1998, was caught in a morning raid near Sicily's capital Palermo.

Lo Piccolo's son Sandro, another top mob figure, and two men accused of being local bosses also were also arrested.

Investigators believe Lo Piccolo could have emerged as the Mafia's new overall head after Bernardo Provenzano, the reputed number one of the Cosa Nostra crime syndicate, was held in Corleone in April the previous year.

The group's second in command, Gianni Nicchi, was captured in 2009 when he was found hiding in an apartment in Palermo.

Police said Nicchi, described as a 'young, dangerous, ambitious, pitiless killer', quickly climbed to the top of Palermo-based crime families after Lo Piccolo's arrest. Nicchi, a fugitive since 2006, was convicted in 2008 of extortion and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

One man still evading capture is Matteo Messina Denaro, who has been on Italy's wanted list since 1993 for murder and other crimes.

Rancadore's arrest is not the first time someone with links to the Mafia has been held in England. In 2007, housewife Ann Hathaway, from Greater Manchester, agreed to be extradited where Italian authorities wanted her to stand trial as one of 88 people accused over alleged Mafia activities.

However, after agreeing a plea bargain deal with prosecutor Nicolo Marino, in which she admitted Mafia association, Hathaway was freed. She was given a two-year suspended jail sentence and warned that the penalty would apply if she committed a crime within the next five years.