A mafia hitman described as one of Italy's most wanted men has been arrested after police tracked him down on Facebook.
Pasquale Manfredi, who goes by the alias "Scarface", was arrested while trying to escape officers out a top-floor window of an apartment block in Crotone, Calabria, in the nation’s south.
The 33-year-old assassin had eluded police for years after being named the prime suspect in the bazooka murder of a rival in 2004 and the killing of second man in 2005, Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper reports.
The mafia man's whereabouts were finally revealed after investigators cottoned on to his prolific activity and extensive network of contacts on Facebook, police spokesman Edgardo Gobbi said.
"Manfredi is a good catch — he is particular cold and cruel," Mr Gobbi said.
"We tracked him down because we had information he was using a key to log on to the internet and in particular use Facebook."
It is believed Manfredi used the profile name "Georgie" to connect to more than 200 people on the social networking site, including top mafia figures.
He may even have used Facebook to receive encrypted orders from superiors, Britain's The Sun newspaper reported.
Detectives had toiled in frustration for years before finally receiving a tipoff that Manfredi was a regular user of the site.
They then used electronic surveillance equipment to pinpoint his location to a laptop in the apartment building at Isola Capo Rizzuto.
He is now expected to be charged over the rocket launcher slaying of mobster Carmine Arena in October 2004 and the murder of Pasquale Tripaldi a year later.
Manfredi dubbed himself "Scarface" after the gangster protagonist of the same name portrayed by Paul Muni in 1932, then Al Pacino in 1983.
Police will now trawl Manfredi’s Facebook contacts for other potential crime figures.
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